COMPETITIVENESS, EFFICIENCY AND POLICY IN MODERN IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE IN THE STATES OF SONORA AND SINALOA, MEXICO

The states of Sonora and Sinaloa have been benefitted by massive public investments in agriculture, through the development of large-scale irrigation projects, complemented by research, input, and credit programs, since the 1940s. Today, they have the largest composition of modern versus traditional farms. The Policy analysis matrix was used to measure private profitability (competitiveness), social profitability (efficiency), and policy transfers for the major irrigated agricultural systems, under two main land tenure systems: ejidos and private farms. Basic staple and oilseed systems were socially profitable, although less than systems that produce for export (vegetables, cotton and chick-peas). The former were not always privately profitable; substantial subsidies for tradable inputs and capital were more than offset by output taxes. Pronounced inequities in income distribution between ejidos and private farms exist, in spite of specific policies intended to increase profitability of ejido agriculture. Differential access to credit and markets for the most profitable crops, and an average three-fold difference in farm sizes largely explain income differencials within the modern farm sector

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