“GRUMA AND CIMMYT PROMOTE the FOOD SAFETY INITIATIVE”.

• The global food crisis highlights the need to mitigate dependence on food imports and encourage the consumption of safe and nutritious local products.
  
  
• Gruma and the CIMMYT will share the knowledge and results of the Campeche 500 Program for the sustainable production of white maize worldwide.
  
  
• The Campeche 500 and Tamaulipas 500 projects, make caring for the health and safety of white corn a top priority, thus ensuring the grain’s food quality.
  
  
• The actions ensure the substitution of white corn imports and confirm the progress made in terms of food self-sufficiency.

Mexico City, December 1, 2022. -Faced with the global challenge of the impairment of food security after the COVID-19 pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine threatening millions of people worldwide with the lack of food,Grumaand the International Maize and Wheat Center (CIMMYT) promote food security in the state of Campeche.

The current food crisis highlights the need to reduce dependence on food imports through investment in local, sustainable, and resilient systems for the long term, as well as coordinated action by global and local governments and the private sector (including small producers, farmers, organizations, and financial institutions) to encourage the consumption of high-quality local products that are safe for human consumption and foster proper nutrition.

In this manner, Gruma and the CIMMYT contribute their “grain of flour” [play on words] by sharing the knowledge and results obtained from the Campeche 500 Program for the sustainable production of white corn in that Mexican state, which can be replicated for local grain production worldwide.

After four years of intense joint work and research in Tamaulipas, where 3,500 tons of white corn suitable for human consumption were harvested on 500 hectares, now with Campeche 500, the Secretariat of Agriculture and Development Rural (SADER), the National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research (INIFAP), seed companies and farmers from Campeche, together Gruma and the CIMMYT, are about to harvest the product of the white corn grown on 500 hectares of farmland, ideal for feeding people.

The public and private organizations participating in the plan believe in the need to prioritize corn health and food safety care, thus ensuring food quality grains.

It is worth mentioning that as of the autumn/winter 2019-20 cycle, the SADER Production for Well-being Program and its Technical Accompaniment Strategy (EAT) joined efforts to launch a plan incorporating the Farm Worker’s Agriculture method for Integrated Knowledge and Comprehensive Management of Induced Crops (ACCI-MICI) characterized by sustainable practices and close collaboration between scientists, technicians, producers to address crop health problems, increase yields, and induce the agroecological transition in Campeche.

In 2018, Gruma pledged to contribute USD 290,000 per year, contributing USD 1.5 million to date.

The technologies implemented in Campeche 500 are:

1. INIFAP technological package:

• Appropriate planting dates, timely irrigation, and pest management.
  
  

2. Agroecological management of the Production for Well-being Program of the Secretariat of Agriculture, ACCI-MICI.

• Optimum microbiological balance of the soil.
• Soil health.
• The use of bio inputs, including biofertilizers.
  
  

 3. Biocontrol of crops.

 4. Use of hybrids adapted to the region.

• Good corn cob coverage.
• Less exposure time to weather conditions.
  
  

Before the implementation of this plan, corn harvested in Campeche could not be used to feed people and the state is now moving towards food self-sufficiency and substituting imports.

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