The Jalisco agro-food sector, in addition to being a national leader in production, has become a national benchmark in sustainable production models.
This is consistent with the international trend that values environmentally friendly production and decent human work.
This was stated by the head of the Jalisco Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER,) Salvador Álvarez García, during the signing of the memorandum of understanding for the environmental certification of agro industrial products in Jalisco; the “green seal.”
"At this moment, the tendency to support the producer is: (What can we do) from now on so that tomorrow it can continue exporting? We all know that international markets are more demanding every day, and how good that they are, because we must first take care of what we eat, nature and the environment.”
The certification of food with the green seal represents a plus that allows products access to global market segments where a premium is paid, both for the certification itself, and for its origin from small producers or groups of women or indigenous groups.
Leading firms such as Unilever and Nestlé market green label products to special consumer segments.
For this reason, he stressed that the Secretariat under his charge is in the best position to facilitate the certification of productive actors.
Álvarez García indicated that on the instructions of Governor Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, work is being done in a coordinated manner with various state agencies, particularly with the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (Semadet,) to carry out an agenda, which although it is demanding, is a model of coordinated work with the organizations of the productive sector.
In this regard, the head of the entity's environmental portfolio, Sergio Graf Montero, spoke of the progress in various areas in which the Jalisco countryside is a leader at the national level, such as the deforestation-free agave production exercise (ARA), in coordination with the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT).
Likewise, a pilot scheme for the production of bovine meat also free from deforestation is under way, in an exercise that has received support from the Government of Norway.
Edgar González Godoy, representative in Mexico of the Rain Forest Alliance firm, said that in the Jalisco field there has been a positive response from the avocado sector for three years to date, the period of time in which the orchards of leading plantation companies in the south of Jalisco have been certified.
He argued that the certification of avocado farms implies compliance with more than 200 environmental and labor standards, such as protection of hydrological basins, establishment of biodiversity areas, absence of child labor, and good sanitary practices of the personnel, among other points.
The event was attended by representatives of several companies and the leaders of the Council of Industrial Chambers of Jalisco and the Agricultural and Agroindustrial Council of Jalisco, Masayi González Uyeda and César Silva Hinojosa, respectively.