Perilous
Times
Cold snap destroys Mexico maize/corn crop
Woman holding a pile of corn tortillas Maize tortillas are
Mexico's traditional staple food
BBC A spell of unusually cold weather in northern Mexico has
severely damaged the maize crop in the state of Sinaloa.
Officials estimate the losses could amount to four million tonnes
of corn - 16% of Mexico's annual harvest.
President Felipe Calderon said everything possible must be done to
re-sow the fields over the next two weeks.
There are fears the losses could force up the price of the corn
tortillas that most Mexicans eat with every meal.
Officials say up to 600,000 hectares (1.5m acres) of maize have
been lost to frost in Sinaloa, which is home to some of Mexico's
richest farmland.
At a meeting with Sinaloa farmers and state officials, President
Calderon promised federal aid, credit and prompt insurance
payments to help farmers get new crops in fast before it was too
late in the season.
"It is not an ordinary catastrophe or the simple loss of a
harvest, but an emergency situation that demands a clear and
forceful response from the authorities, a response that is not
lost in bureaucratic delays," he said.
"It's not just the billions of pesos that may be lost," he added.
"We have to recover all we can because it is vital for feeding the
country."
Tortilla prices have already been rising in line with a spike in
grain prices on global markets.
In 2007 high tortilla prices provoked widespread protests in
Mexico.
Maize was first domesticated in Mexico and remains the main staple
crop.