Tuxtla Gutiérrez.— Corn production in Chiapas is facing a historic collapse: in the last three decades, the state has lost 76 percent of its planted area, dropping from 850,000 hectares to just 200,000.
This decline, equivalent to more than 650,000 hectares, reflects the deterioration of an activity that for generations sustained the rural economy and fed thousands of families in the state.
The impact is already visible in at least 16 municipalities that are no longer considered corn-producing areas, mainly in regions such as La Frailesca, the Central Valley, and the north of the state, where traditional cornfields have been replaced by pastures, urbanization, or simply abandonment.
Behind this crisis lies a lack of profitability. Currently, the price of corn ranges between 7,000 and 7,200 pesos per ton, while production costs per hectare range between 12,000 and 15,000 pesos, leaving producers with minimal profits or even losses.
Added to this are factors such as drought, soil degradation, and a lack of irrigation infrastructure, which reduce yields, as well as increasing migration that has left Chiapas’s agricultural sector without generational succession.
The crisis is not only economic, but also social. Entire communities have ceased to depend on corn for sustenance, while young people are abandoning agricultural activity due to a lack of opportunities, transforming the state’s productive fabric.
Today, Chiapas no longer produces what it consumes. In the countryside, the land is still there, but there are fewer and fewer hands to work it and fewer incentives to plant one of the staple grains of the Mexican diet.
Original article at Sol de Chiapas, April 7th, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.