Environmental Impact of Avocado Farming in Mexico

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Environmental Impact of Avocado Farming in Mexico

Over the past few decades, avocado farming has gained popularity, is now considered the world-famous superfood, and is easily incorporated into various recipes worldwide. According to Krosofsky (2021), avocado farming has long been considered a cash crop in many countries, including India, the United States, and Mexico taking the lead as the country that farms avocados on a large scale. Although most grown Avocado is exported to countries like Canada, China, Japan, and Chile, the country also consumes a considerable amount of its Avocado within its boundaries. However, the increase growing of avocados poses a danger to the environment and needs controlling. According to Krosofsky (2021), avocado growing is suppressing the farming of other crops in many countries in that many believe that it is more profitable to farm Avocado than other crops. Like other cash crops such as sugarcane, coffee, and corn, Avocado encourages monocultures which has detrimental effects on soil and successive planting. This implies that large Mexican land and other countries indulged in avocado farming are used to grow Avocado yearly. Monoculture is an issue because it exhausts soil nutrients, which encourages using fertilizers and pesticides, further contaminating the soil and affecting the micro-living organism.

Another detrimental effect of avocado farming on the environment is deforestation. With the increasing demand for avocados in the United States and the United Kingdom, more land is needed for avocado farming. According to Krosofsky (2021), avocado farming has increased the rate at which local farmers clear and burn bushes to create land for avocado trees. In a broader perspective, avocado farming significantly contributes to climate change due to clearing forests that have been proven to protect the environment. Therefore, avocado growing is becoming popular today, and its growth must be controlled to protect the God-given natural environment.

Avocado farming in Mexico did not raise the alarm until 2015. According to Ramírez-Mejía et al. (2022), the demand for avocado rouse drastically not only in the United States but across the world, including the countries such as Chile, Canada, Japan, and China. Therefore, to meet the demand force, farmers in Mexico were forced to enlarge their farms and, in the process, cut down a total of 20,000 acres and planted new avocado trees. According to Ramírez-Mejía et al. (2022), about 15000 acres of forest land is cut down annually to allow avocado trees to meet the growing demand for the green gold, a phrase most commonly used to refer to Avocado. For instance, Ramírez-Mejía et al. (2022) say that a large volume of swaths in the western state of Michoacán, Mexico, has been cleared to create more space for avocado trees. Therefore, there is a high possibility that many parts of Mexico and other countries that do avocado farming would be going the same as seen in Michoacán.

The government of Mexico, through its forestry ministry, is responsible for controlling deforestation that is taking place to favor avocado farming. According to Khan et al. (2021), Mexico has lost a considerable forest and tree cover from 2011 to 2021. This implies excess atmospheric carbon dioxide, thus hastening climate change and global warming. The Mexican government has developed a program that is currently paying about 420,000 farmers all over the country to plant more trees instead of cutting them down to plant avocados which could take longer to mature. The government and the Mexican Wildlife Society believe that deforestation threatens the environment and the wild animals that depend on the forest for survival. The two mentioned bodies prohibit tree cutting and clearing for avocado planting.

Despite the benefits of Avocado growing in the Mexican economy, farming has some detrimental effects on the environment, which, if not checked, could lead to world disaster. The farming of Avocado encourages monoculture and deforestation, and the two terms impact the environment. For instance, monoculture means that only avocado trees can be grown on the same land for years, implying that the available soil nutrient would be exhausted and thus reside on fertilizers and pesticides. Deforestation resulting from the demand for more land causes climate change and global warming. Therefore, I agree that avocado growing has several negative impacts on the environment, as has been described.

Annotated Bibliography

Khan, N., Kakabadse, N., & Skouloudis, A. (2021). Socio-ecological resilience and environmental sustainability: the case of Avocado from Mexico. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 28(8), 744-758. Web.

This articles main concern is the food insecurity that is believed to be caused by avocado farming in Michoacán, Mexico. According to Khan et al. (2021), avocado planting in Mexico and the entire world is suppressing the farming of food crops such as maize and other crops that, in the long run, can reduce the weight of food insecurity not only in Mexico but around the world. Moreover, this article acknowledges the detrimental effects of avocado farming on natural resources such as water, soil, and air.

Krosofsky, A. (2021). Lean, Mean, but Not so Green: How Avocados Impact the Environment. Green Matters. Web.

This article is available online and is educating on the importance of avocado farming in Mexico. According to Krosofsky (2021), as Mexicos main cash crop, Avocado plays a vital role in boosting its economy. This is true because, with the increased demand for avocado exportation to Canada and United States, farmers can earn Mexican foreign currencies that promote Mexicos economy. However, the article presents monoculture and deforestation as the major problems surrounding Avocado farming in Mexico.

Ramírez-Mejía, D., Levers, C., & Mas, J. (2022). Spatial patterns and determinants of avocado frontier dynamics in Mexico. Regional Environmental Change, 22(1). Web.

This article tries to educate about the impacts of Avocado growing in Mexico. According to Ramírez-Mejía et al. (2022), the current food insecurity experienced in many parts of Mexico is due to the suppression of the growth of food crops at the expense of Avocado. Although it earns farmers much money, the country has to import food crops such as maize, among other food commodities, since they are only growing Avocados on large farms and nothing else. This article concludes by recommending a change in Mexican agriculture to plant cash and food crops to balance food and money availability.

References

Krosofsky, A. (2021). Lean, Mean, but Not so Green: How Avocados Impact the Environment. Green Matters. Web.

Ramírez-Mejía, D., Levers, C., & Mas, J. (2022). Spatial patterns and determinants of avocado frontier dynamics in Mexico. Regional Environmental Change, 22(1). Web.

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