Traditional Chicle Harvesting Faces Extinction in Yucatán Peninsula

Traditional Chicle Harvesting in Decline

Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo — The traditional chicle harvesting activity is in danger of extinction due to the disinterest of younger generations in maintaining this legacy.

Young people prefer to migrate to the hotel zone to obtain income without risking their lives in a chicozapote tree; however, 2025 recorded the greatest financial recovery in commercialization by reaching 170 pesos per kilogram of chewing gum, the best price in recent years.

According to day laborers, the season closes with excellent figures by achieving a value 70 percent higher than that recorded in 2024, a period in which the product sold for 100 pesos per kilogram.

Commerce Collapse

A producer commented that, when starting his work, the cooperative bought the kilogram for 40 pesos. Over time, costs gradually rose; only last year it was purchased for 100 pesos and currently they collect it for 170.

Decline of the Trade

Over the decades, chicle harvesters have aged and abandoned the practice, while school graduates migrate to tourist centers. They seek the money left by the service sector and forget the field work.

Several years ago, in the town of Pino Suárez there was an average of 160 to 180 resin workers; today only six remain, whose ages exceed 47 years and only one of them is 30 years old.

Given the lack of interest from young people who migrate to the hotel zone, only a fraction of inhabitants in Pino Suárez preserves the trade.

Personal Experience

Manuel Chuc Pat mentioned that in his career he faced problems, mainly during the pandemic, when the activity collapsed due to lack of market for the gum. It was in 2025 when the value of the input rebounded, selling for up to 170 pesos to the cooperative of the community Señor, which is part of the Chicza company, responsible for marketing natural chicle in the state.

“Previously there were no other sources of income, that’s why people chose to be chicle harvesters,” he expressed. He recalled that since childhood he accompanied his parents and already knew the cutting technique; after leaving school he would take his tools and go into the jungle, a practice he maintains to this day.

He added that it is a passionate job in which he learned the entire process: from extracting the resin to selecting the specimens whose bark must be cut to obtain the liquid that becomes natural gum.

He mentioned that, at that time, the economic situation was difficult and the resource was necessary to continue his studies.

Women from communities like X-Yatil participate in the production, strengthening the rural economy.

On free days he took advantage to help at home, since there were eight siblings. He had to contribute to common expenses, especially when his relatives formed their own domestic cells and he remained supporting his parents.

Technical Details

In the jungle they know several types of chicozapotes, from chacyah to sacyah, which have thick bark and provide more resin, as well as purple zapote. To obtain an important load, they must work at least 40 trees.

“We must select the specimen that provides security, since we cannot climb just any. First we must avoid accidents,” he recounted.

“In my more than 35 years of work I have suffered mishaps, such as a spinal fracture from falling from a height of more than four meters after accidentally cutting the rope,” he expressed.

He concluded by narrating that “I was alone and when I reacted I was able to return to my house.”

The lack of protective equipment and social security makes the ascent, to more than four meters, one of the most dangerous tasks of this work.

Passion for Working in the Mayan Jungle

After finishing secondary school he tried to venture outside the town to work in the Riviera Maya. He got a job in a poultry center, then as a dishwasher and later as a warehouse assistant, where he assumed the head of the area within a few months. After four years he returned to his locality in 2004 to attend to a relative’s bees and never left again.

The season begins at the end of May and concludes in January, when the rain is considerable. To work he travels more than 10 kilometers south of José María Pino Suárez; he travels six kilometers on the federal highway and four more inside the jungle.

Depending on humidity, a tree can give up to a liter and a half of resin or only a quarter liter if small. If a worker manages to intervene 10 specimens, he captures up to 10 liters of liquid, but after cooking over fire only between four and five kilograms of chicle are obtained. To reach a block of 11 kilograms, between 30 and 40 trees are required; in a good season, a constant chicle harvester can obtain up to 150 kilograms.

The chicle legacy in the Yucatán Peninsula remains alive thanks to older adults, who consider this work a pillar of their uses and customs.

Uses and Customs

Chuc Pat indicated that, being considered a risky activity, youth prefer to work outside. Therefore, current producers maintain the work as part of a cultural legacy. Through exhibitions and social networks, they have contacted professors interested in this process as a university study. Likewise, this trade has inspired local singers like Mayan rapper Pat Boy for his music videos.

Isidro Chuc, pioneer of the community, lived moments of danger and did not abandon the activity until physical strength prevented him. Today he is visited by various people to learn his knowledge. Even artists and academics come to him so that his memory remains alive.

The blocks, already ready for sale, are delivered to storage centers like the cooperative of the community Señor.

Danger Without Medical Attention

Rafaela Pat, chicle harvester from the community X-Yatil, admitted that no worker has life insurance, which makes the task more dangerous when climbing trees. Currently the cooperatives are located in Petcacab, Yoactún, Dzulá and X-Yatil, as well as in Campeche, areas that received from the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) the Geographical Indication “Mayan Chicle of the Yucatán Peninsula.”

“It is a great job what my husband does and we participate in the production process,” she referred. The price per kilogram already in blocks ranges around 150 pesos. In X-Yatil there are about 10 farmers who still practice cutting, mostly older adults, since young people prefer the hotels of the Riviera Maya.