Financing for fishing and aquaculture SMEs in Yucatan

In the southeast entity, fishing and aquaculture are economic sectors that have a high social importance, employing more than 15,000 people directly.

Mexico is among the top 20 countries in the world in terms of the capture of fishery resources (1.5% of world catches). This activity represents an important source of food for the population, provides inputs for the industry and foreign exchange from the sale of product. of high commercial value. The country has a historically surplus trade balance, according to the National Fisheries Institute.

In Yucatan, fishing and aquaculture are economic sectors that have a high social importance, employing more than 15,000 people directly and more than 40,000 indirectly.

More than 50% of state fisheries and aquaculture production is export-oriented, generating foreign exchange of more than 920 million dollars.

Aquaculture contributes significantly to the availability of protein in rural areas and provides fish to the metropolitan area of ​​Mérida. (FAO: Diagnosis of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors in the State of Yucatan)

According to the most recent official figures, the state of Yucatan contributes 1.9% of the Gross Domestic Product of the National Fishing Sector with 36,974 tons in production volume and 4.2% of the national total with 1,838 million pesos (MDP) of value. of production.

In recent years, it has remained within the top 10 places in volume and value of fishery production, concentrating its activity mainly on five groups of resources of high economic value: octopus, lobster, grouper, red snapper/snapper and sea cucumber, all they are export-oriented to markets in the United States, the European Union, Asian countries, Central and South America.

With the purpose of expanding access to credit to producers and companies in the fishing and agri-food sector, FIRA and the Government of Yucatan, through the Secretary of Rural Development, maintain the Financing Program for Medium-sized Agro-food and Rural Enterprises (PROEM). Yucatán), through which a first-loss guarantee fund was established to promote the competitiveness of medium-sized companies in the agri-food and fishing system of this peninsula.

With this program, fishery producers and entrepreneurs can complement their guarantees to access different financial sources and have working capital credits for marketing, provisioning and stockpiling; as well as long-term credits for the modernization and expansion of cold rooms, equipment and process areas in the industry and expansion of aquaculture farms.

FIRA has increased its participation in the fishing and aquaculture activity in Yucatan. With figures at the end of May 2022, with the PROEM program, resources in the order of $74.2 million pesos have been channeled to the SMEs of Yucatan.

During 2022, in coordination with the Secretariat of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture of Yucatan, it is intended to serve a greater number of producers and companies dedicated to fishing activity, to have access to financing of working capital credits and fixed investment, triggering the development of the region and promoting the financial inclusion of the participants.

*Eduardo Martín Ángeles Robles and Mario Centeno Juárez are promoter and agent, respectively, of FIRA in Mérida. The opinion is that of the author and does not necessarily coincide with the official point of view of FIRA.

emangeles@fira.gob.mx

mcenteno@fira.gob.mx