Mexico’s new president will introduce constitutional safeguard for non-GMO corn

If supporters of the U.S.’s hardline stand against Mexico wanting to import only non-GMO corn were hoping the country’s new president would be more likely to kowtow to U.S. agribusiness demands, they are dead wrong.

In November, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that her government would present a plan to protect the country’s non-GMO white corn under the constitution.

“We have an obligation to ensure that the white corn cultivated in Mexico is not genetically modified,” Sheinbaum said in a press conference. “This will be in the constitution as this is the best defense we have for biodiversity as well as for our health.”

Sheinbaum said her predecessor President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had sent a proposal to safeguard Mexico’s corn varieties and that she hoped this would be discussed in the lower house of Congress.

Mexico is self-sufficient in white corn, used to make the country’s staple tortilla, but imports GMO yellow corn from the U.S. which is mainly used to feed livestock.

President Lopez Obrador, had sought to limit imports of GMO corn, sparking a dispute under the North American free trade pact.

As the center of diversity for corn, Mexico has more than 60 native varieties, a key ingredient in Mexican cuisine that was domesticated by indigenous people over thousands of years and has an important symbolic value dating back to pre-Hispanic cultures.

Sheinbaum said it was also important to safeguard the quality of seeds being used by farmers to protect the local agricultural capacity.

Meanwhile, a resolution on the U.S.-Mexico dispute over GMO corn is expected very soon.

Sources: Reuters, Farmtario

To view source article, visit: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/mexicos-sheinbaum-present-constitutional-safeguard-non-gmo-corn-coming-days-2024-11-14/

https://farmtario.com/daily/mexico-expects-resolution-on-gm-corn-dispute-by-dec-14/

Organic & Non-GMO Insights December 2024