@article{Yunez-Naude:50827,
      recid = {50827},
      author = {Yunez-Naude, Antonio and Serrano-Cote, Valeria},
      title = {Liberalization of Staple Crops: Lessons from the Mexican  Experience in Maize},
      address = {2009},
      number = {1005-2016-79136},
      series = {IAAE Contributed Paper},
      pages = {15},
      year = {2009},
      abstract = {In this paper we inquire why after more than 25 years of  domestic agricultural reforms in Mexico and 15 years of  trade liberalization of maize under NAFTA –a  non-competitive crop and the major staple in  Mexico–domestic production of this field crop has  increased. We present new empirical evidence showing that,  as expected, maize prices in Mexico dropped until 2006 and  have experienced a process of convergence with USA prices,  and maize imports from the USA increased. However, despite  lower prices, maize production in Mexico rose and has  experienced a positive structural change since 1992, two  years before the beginning of NAFTA’s implementation. Based  on the heterogeneity of maize production in Mexico, three  possible explanations are proposed to explain this  unexpected outcome: government supports to big commercial  farmers in the agriculturally rich North of Mexico; the  persistence of maize production by subsistence farmers; and  to a lesser degree, increasing yields on some irrigated  maize farms. We finish the paper by drawing lessons from  the experience of Mexico for other Less Developed  Countries.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/50827},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.50827},
}