These are the findings of an economic impact evaluation of the program carried out by the Office of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Mexico.
The findings were recently presented to representatives of the National Service for Agrifood Health, Safety and Quality, the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food of Mexico, the Inter-American Development Bank and other stakeholders.
The study analyzed the program’s cost structure for the last 31 years and the direct and indirect benefits for Mexico and Chiapas, the state where the Moscamed-Mexico Program works to eradicate and control the pest.
According to the analysis, the total direct benefits of the program for Mexico are worth US$66,421,000,000 (the net value of the production and exports of economically important fruits and vegetables susceptible to attack by the pest).
The indirect benefits of the program are put at US$19,593,000,000, including savings in insecticides and the creation of new jobs and continued employment in the production and packing of fruits and vegetables (508,000,000 day’s wages and the 510 permanent jobs generated by the Moscamed Program).
Based on the programs’ cost (US$352 million in the case of Moscamed-Mexico, and US$767 million for the Regional Moscamed Program) and the aforementioned benefits, the benefit/cost ratio is 112 for the Mexican program and 57 for the regional program.
“For each million dollars invested in the Moscamed Program, the benefits generated increased: the net value of production and exports rose by US$53 million and US$30 million, respectively, and of employment by nearly US$3 million. The authors of the study put the savings due to the survival of the natural enemies of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly at US$811,000.”
Without the program, possible infestations of the pest and the amounts of insecticide that would have been required would have resulted in potential losses to Mexican fruit and vegetable production of the order of US$4,237,000,000.
Furthermore, the net value of the exports that would have been lost during the period is put at nearly US$25,866,000,000.
The absence of an integrated pest control strategy like the one implemented under the program would have resulted in US$17,527,000,000 in indirect costs (e.g., the cost of health care for rural inhabitants suffering from insecticide poisoning, unemployment in the fruit and vegetable industry and environmental damage).
Over a 30-year period, the program has generated direct benefits for Chiapas worth US$1,075,000,000, reflected in the growing net value of the production and exports of fruits and vegetables selected and grown in the state.
The evaluation also estimates the indirect benefits for Chiapas (the health of the rural population, the creation of new jobs and continued employment in the production of fruits and vegetables and under the Moscamed Program, and environmental protection) at US$729 million.
If the Program had not been implemented, it is calculated that Chiapas might have lost US$97 million worth of fruit production and exports. Furthermore, the Program’s indirect benefits would have become US$519 million in costs.
The Moscamed Program has achieved worldwide recognition as one of the first programs in the Americas to use the sterile insect technique to control the Mediterranean fruit fly.
The IICA Office in Mexico is presently collaborating with the Moscamed Program activities aimed at monitoring, identifying and, if necessary, controlling outbreaks along the Mexico-Guatemala border and thereby preventing the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) from becoming established in the country.
For more information, contact
gino.buzzetti@iica.int