INFORME FINAL DEL PRECESAM - El Colegio de México

A comparison of data from the two survey rounds reveals that the beginning of
the millennium was marked by significant changes in the structure of Mexico’s
rural economies. The ENHRUM data indicate that the economy of rural Mexico
is gradually becoming less oriented around staple production and domestic wage
work (including internal migration), while the role of international migration,
nonstaple crop production, and livestock is increasing.
There was an 8.6 point decrease in the percentage of households participating in
internal migration, a 7.7 point decrease in nonagricultural wage labor, a 6.9 point
decrease in agricultural wage labor, and a 3.4 point decrease in participation in
staple production. Participation in livestock production increased 8.8 percentage
points, international migration by 3.5 points, and nonstaple crop production, by
0.9 points.
Mexico’s rural household economies are highly diversified. Households
participate in multiple activities. For example, of the households that participated
in staple production in 2007, 46% also grew other crops, 85% also had livestock,
and 30% had at least one migrant in the United States. Of households with
migrants in the United States, 37% grew staples and 62% participated in
livestock production. This diversity is basic to rural households’ survival
strategies, because it cushions families against shocks affecting particular
income sources, like crop failure. Our preliminary work using the new survey
data suggests that, instead of becoming more specialized, rural households are
becoming slightly more diversified over time.
What impact have these changes had on the welfare of Mexico’s rural
households? How have rural households’ strategies enabled them to survive in
an increasingly global and dynamic economic environment? Does diversification
protect poor households against economic shocks? Have some households
managed to escape from poverty, and if so, how? Or are rural Mexican
households caught in a “poverty trap,” from which they are unable to escape over
time? How have Mexico’s rural policies, in particular PROCAMPO,
OPORTUNIDADES, and INGRESO OBJETIVO, affected poverty? These
questions will be the main focus of our collaborative research during the coming
year.