White Maize (Zea mays l.) Production Potential in Mexico

Abstract

In Mexico maize (Zea mays) is the main food for ancient tradition; the tortilla is the staple food base. There are many types of this grain, the most used in the national is the white. In this paper the objective was to get corn productive potential and to compare it with the national demand, and to determine if the country can be self-sufficient. It was used a mix approach in two stages. The first stage consisted on searching for statistical data from oficial web sites. On the second stage was done the data processing.  A logarithmic regression was designed to estimate the production potential and the elasticities of the production components. Results showed that in the mexican territory is capable of producing enough to satisfy the population demand and even have a surplus to export, if it produces in the maximum potential. But, the raising production through yield was rejected so the hypothesis proposed. Results suggest to reorganize the cereal crop production in Mexico.