Understand the context of rural poverty in Mexico and how the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is funding innovative solutions to empower poor rural people in the Mexican countryside.

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Enabling poor rural
people to overcome
poverty in Mexico
Rural poverty in Mexico
In rural areas of Mexico, 61 per cent of people were living beneath
the national rural poverty line in 2010, according to World Bank
data. Given that the country’s rural population was estimated at
about 25 million, more than 15 million people in those areas were
living in poverty.
In general, three factors determine poverty status in Mexico:
• Geographic area and proximity to urban centres – this proximity offers
opportunities for income diversification and the incidence of rural poverty is
highest in remote areas far from cities.
• Ethnicity – the poverty rate in indigenous communities is well above the rate for
the non-indigenous population.
• Gender – women head most single-parent households and face a lack of job
opportunities and access to productive resources.
The causes of rural poverty in Mexico are partly structural. Poverty arises from a
lack of access to basic services such as health, education, sanitation and housing –

2. and to productive resources such as land, technology, knowledge and credit, which
would enable small farmers to improve their productivity and income.
The causes are also partly transitional, triggered by economic crises that have
hindered economic and social development. According to a report issued in February
2012 by the National Council for Evaluation of Social Development Policy, or
CONEVAL, food price increases and the lack of long-term economic growth have
reduced household purchasing power and contributed to poverty in Mexico.
In addition, rural poverty reflects the income inequalities that prevail in the region.
For example, while Mexico’s GDP per capita is US$8,920, the average income of the
poorest 20 per cent of the rural population is US$456 per year.
Rural poverty in Mexico is concentrated in areas with large indigenous populations,
notably in the southern states. According to a Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung report,
75 per cent of indigenous people in the country were living below the poverty line
and 39 per cent were in extreme poverty in 2009. In Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guerrero
States, extreme poverty affects more than half of the population.
The rural poverty rate dropped somewhat in the early 2000s due to a significant
increase in public and private transfers – mainly in the form of remittances – as well
as an expansion of rural non-farm employment and rural development programmes.
However, the rate went back up with the global economic crisis later in the decade.
Violence has also taken a toll on the country’s stability and development, with more
than 15,000 people killed in drug-related incidents in 2010.
Eradicating rural poverty
in Mexico
The authorities in Mexico have worked over the years to build a legal framework for
lasting rural and social development.
The Sustainable Rural Development Act of 2001 and the Social Development Act of
2003 were adopted to promote equal opportunities and sustained poverty reduction.
Initiatives such as the 2003 National Rural Agreement, between major organizations
of farmers and producers, sought to improve productive capacity.
The National Development Plan 2007-2012 is guided by the principle of sustainable
human development and built on pillars that include achievement of a competitive
economy, equal opportunities for all and environmental sustainability. The plan
details a substantial agenda providing for goals in rural poverty reduction, improved
competitiveness, environmental management and institutional change.
Targeted social-protection initiatives, such as the ‘Oportunidades’ conditional cash
transfer and the Seguro Popular universal health insurance programmes, have helped
to mitigate the effects of poverty in the wake of the global financial crisis. In
addition, several national programmes emphasize social development, natural
resource management and poverty reduction among indigenous peoples and other
marginalized groups.
Meanwhile, Mexico has taken an international leadership role in climate-change
adaptation and mitigation, as the impacts of climate variability affect key sectors
providing sustenance and livelihoods for the population. In particular, lower
agricultural yields and insecure water supplies threaten the basic needs both of urban
residents and rural communities.
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Faced with these challenges, however, Mexico still lacks federal legislation on climate
change. According to a 2011 report by IFAD and the International Development Law
Organization, several laws – including the National Water Act, Federal Law, Law of
Sustainable Rural Development, Land Law and General Law on Sustainable Rural
Development – should include climate criteria.
IFAD’s strategy in Mexico
Since 1980, when IFAD began working in Mexico, it has approved nine loans and Projects: 9
grants totalling US$178.1 million for agricultural development projects there. Total cost: US$352.7 million
Total financing from IFAD:
IFAD’s operations in Mexico have evolved over the decades. Beginning with strong US$178.1 million
support for community empowerment, the projects it finances have placed increasing Directly benefiting:
emphasis on indigenous peoples – and particularly the participation of indigenous 130,405 households
rural women in productive activities.
Currently, IFAD focuses on improving income levels and employment in rural
communities in Mexico, with special attention to indigenous communities, small
farmers and members of the ejidos, or areas of communal land used for agriculture.
It also promotes and strengthens the capacity of grass-roots organizations to help
achieve sustainable, community-driven local development, and encourages the active
participation of rural women and indigenous people in social and economic
decision-making in their communities.
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The strategic objectives in IFAD’s Country Strategic Opportunities Plan are based on
its implementation experience and mirror the objectives of Mexico’s National
Development Plan 2007-2012. These include contributing to:
• Generating sustainable income and permanent employment through the
government programmes in which IFAD participates, with a focus on the poorest
and most marginalized segments of the population.
• Increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of public spending on IFAD-
supported activities that are being implemented within government programmes,
with an eye towards extending the reach of these initiatives.
• Strengthening capacities to learn from experience and build effective
methodologies for scaling up rural development strategies.
In line with these objectives, IFAD promotes measures that will increase crop yields
and livestock, and provide new markets for small-scale producers. IFAD also supports
microenterprise development projects, conservation of natural resources, linkages
with local markets and the use of new technologies and information resources to
benefit smallholder farmers.
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5. Ongoing operations
Mexico City
Rural Development Project in the Mixteca
Region and the Mazahua Zone
Community-Based Forestry Development
in Southern States of Mexico
Sustainable Development Project for Rural and
Indigenous Communities of the Semi-Arid North-West
Rural Development Project in the Mixteca Region
and the Mazahua Zone
The objective of this project is to increase the income and employment of rural poor Total cost: US$47.5 million
and indigenous households in the Mixteca region, located within Guerrero, Oaxaca IFAD loan: US$18.7 million
and Puebla States, and the Mazahua zone, located in the State of Mexico. It IFAD grant: US$2.0 million
represents an investment in developing and consolidating pro-poor, small-producer Cofinancing: Spanish Food Security
Cofinancing Facility Trust Fund
value chains by strengthening the social fabric of rural and indigenous communities. (U$US15 million), United Mexican
States (US$7 million), beneficiaries
The project has four main thrusts: (US$4.8 million)
• Promoting the formation and development of grass-roots economic organizations. Duration: 2012-2018
Directly benefiting: 20,000 households
• Developing social and entrepreneurial management capacities among a new cadre
of local leaders, including rural and indigenous women and young people.
• Supporting sustainable agricultural production through the rehabilitation and
sound management of natural resources, particularly access to water.
• Developing entrepreneurial linkages and rural microenterprises while facilitating
wider access to markets.
The project area comprises 50 priority municipalities that are home to most of
the Mixteca indigenous population and two municipalities where about
50,000 Mazahua indigenous people live. The target group consists mainly of
subsistence agricultural producers who cultivate communal lands, unorganized
small livestock producers, artisans with weak linkages to markets, and rural and
indigenous women and youth.
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Community-based Forestry Development Project in Southern
States (Campeche, Chiapas and Oaxaca)
The Community-based Forestry Development Project, aligned with the country’s Total cost: US$18.5 million
forestry policy, aims to improve the livelihoods and incomes of 18,000 households in IFAD loan: US$5.0 million
extremely poor forest communities in the southern Mexican states of Campeche, Cofinancing: Global Environmental
Facility (US$5.0 million)
Chiapas and Oaxaca. The project is being implemented by Mexico’s National Forestry
Duration: 2011-2016
Commission (CONAFOR).
Directly benefiting: 18,000 households
The aim is to strengthen, in cooperation with project beneficiaries, the capacity of
communities to better manage their natural resources, enhance conservation practices
such as increasing vegetation cover, and establish mechanisms to cope with the impact
of climate change.
More specifically, the project:
• Provides training on management and sustainable use of forests and plants.
• Strengthens community skills in organization and planning.
• Helps create profitable and sustainable timber and non-timber activities for
indigenous communities, women and other vulnerable groups who have limited
access to land.
• Strengthens CONAFOR’s capacity to reach poor rural families.
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Sustainable Development Project for Rural and Indigenous
Communities of the Semi-Arid North-West
This project addresses environmental conditions underlying the high incidence of Total cost: US$33 million
rural poverty in semi-arid north-western Mexico. Poverty in this area also stems from a IFAD loan: US$25 million
lack of access to land, the extreme fragmentation of holdings, the deterioration of Project type: Rural Development
natural resources and limited access to productive resources. Duration: 2006-2012
Directly benefiting: 7,105 households
The project works with rural communities, indigenous peoples and marginalized
smallholders in the four states selected to:
• Improve conservation of natural resources.
• Ensure greater community control over local assets, including land, agro-biodiversity
and the natural environment.
• Increase the productive capacity of the land through the use of improved production
technologies and conservation.
• Improve levels of income and employment through the promotion of rural and
nature-based tourism, and charges for provision of environmental services.
• Increase community participation in local development processes, with special
attention to the participation of women and youth.
This project is being carried out in close coordination with the Mexican Government’s
efforts for territorial development of the micro-regions, and specifically with the
National Micro-Watershed Programme (Programa Nacionál de Microcuencas).
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8. Completed operations Building a poverty-
free world
Strengthening Project for Rural Development Project The International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD) works with poor
the National Micro- for the Indigenous
rural people to enable them to grow
watershed Programme Communities of the State and sell more food, increase their
Total cost: US$28.0 million of Puebla incomes and determine the direction
IFAD loan: US$15.0 million Total cost: US$43.0 million of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD
Cofinancing: Global Environmental Facility Approved IFAD loan: US$25.0 million has invested almost US$14 billion in
(US$4.0 million)
Duration: 1993-2000 grants and low-interest loans to
Duration: 2005-2010
Directly benefiting: 17,000 households developing countries through projects
Directly benefiting: 8,800 households
empowering about 400 million people
Development Project for to break out of poverty, thereby
Rural Development Project helping to create vibrant rural
Marginal Rural Communities
for Rubber-Producing communities. IFAD is an international
in the Ixtlera Region
Regions of Mexico Total cost: US$53.3 million
financial institution and a specialized
Total cost: US$55.0 million UN agency based in Rome – the
Approved IFAD loan: US$30.0 million
Approved IFAD loan: US$25.0 million United Nations’ food and agriculture
Duration: 1991-2000
Duration: 2001-2009 hub. It is a unique partnership of
Directly benefiting: 14,500 households
Directly benefiting: 20,000 households 168 members from the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting
Oaxaca Rural Countries (OPEC), other developing
Rural Development Project
Development Project countries and the Organisation for
of the Mayan Communities Total cost: US$57.2 million Economic Co‑operation and
in the Yucatan Peninsula Approved IFAD loan: US$22.0 million Development (OECD).
Total cost: US$17.2 million Duration: 1980-1987
Approved IFAD loan: US$10.4 million Directly benefiting: 15,000 households
Duration: 1997-2004
Directly benefiting: 10,000 households
Contact
Enrique Murguia
Country Programme Manager
IFAD
Tel: +39 06 54592341
Fax: +39 06 54593341
E-mail: e.murguia@ifad.org
For further information on rural poverty in
Mexico, visit the Rural Poverty Portal:
htpp://www.ruralpovertyportal.org
Enabling poor rural people
to overcome poverty
International Fund for
Agricultural Development
Via Paolo di Dono, 44
00142 Rome, Italy
Tel: +39 06 54591
Fax: +39 06 5043463
©IFAD/P.C. Vega
E-mail: ifad@ifad.org
www.ifad.org
April 2012