Development of natural rubber suppliers in the Papaloapan River basin, Mexico : Progress and limitations
2019
González-Ramírez, María Guadalupe | Santoyo-Cortés, Horacio | Aguilar-Ávila, Jorge | Aguilar-Gallegos, Norman
Mexico has optimal conditions for the cultivation of natural rubber but imports more than 80 % of its consumption. The model of development suppliers through Innovation Management Agencies (agi, for their acronym in Spanish) was implemented to improve this situation. This work analyzed the achievements of technical assistance services provided by two agi to two rubber agro-industries (ai) and their suppliers located in the Papaloapan River Basin, Mexico. From 2011 to the beginning of 2014, the Agencies generated reports and databases about technical, productive, organizational and commercial parameters of both rubber producers and agro-industries. With this information, global databases were constructed to analyze changes in production, supply, and innovation adoption. The results show that the intervention of the Agencies was relevant and effective in improving production and post-harvest parameters. The production of coagulated rubber also increased as well as the availability of raw material to the agro-industries. Moreover, production costs were able to be reduced, and the quality of the rubber was improved. However, the fall in rubber prices at the end of 2013 caused setbacks in the adoption of innovations and the agriculture-industry integration, showing the fragility of supplier development, as well as of the ai involved serving as lead and trailblazer companies in their suppliers' networks.
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