Farmers Urge Preservation of Ancestral Seeds as Hybrids Spread Across Yucatan Peninsula

José María Morelos, Quintana Roo — Farmers and peasant organizations across the Yucatan Peninsula are warning about the urgent need to conserve native seeds of corn, beans and squash as hybrid varieties increasingly displace crops cultivated for generations in Maya communities.

Speaking at the Fourth Native Seed Festival held in this municipal seat, José Alejandro Huchín Chan, a member of the Milpa Colectiva and partner in the organization Ka’Kuxtal Much meyaj, said the event aims to strengthen the exchange of native seeds and traditional knowledge among farmers.

The festival brought together producers from Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo to share what are known as “country seeds” and discuss challenges facing traditional agriculture and their territories, Huchín Chan explained.

Carlos Guadalupe Canché Canché, a farmer from Campeche, said native seeds form the foundation of food security for indigenous communities. He called it essential to keep them in production and pass their importance to younger generations.

Canché Canché noted that varieties of white, yellow, red and purple corn are still preserved, but warned that it is increasingly necessary to value them against commercial seeds, whose costs keep rising.

The farmer added that conserving these varieties requires joint participation from producers, organizations and authorities at all three levels of government to ensure ancestral seeds remain part of the region’s diet and culture.