Production costs and competitiveness of potato in the state of Mexico

The objective of this work was to determine costs and rentability of potato crop. The study was conducted from March to September 2009 at the state of Mexico, base don the information obtained from surveys with stratified sampling of large producers (more than 10 ha), middle (5-10 ha) and small (1-5 ha) in ten localities. The methodology used was The Matrix of Analysis of Policy (MAP), whose main purpose is to measure the effects of trade liberation and the efficiency of the production systems. The results show that large producers had higher yield (6.421 to 8.765 US$) than middle-size (5.170 to 8.291 US$) and small producers (3.107 to 6.658 US$). Potato farming paid the market price of the internal factors, including a return to the capital. The relation of private costs, on average, was lower in large producers (0,24) than in middle (0,25) and small producers (0,30), which indicates higher yields and competitiveness of large producers. The average consumption in the total income in large producers was 25%, and in middle and small producers was 27% and 33% respectively, which integrates the percentage of the purchase of supplies. Complementarily, the added value in the total income, for large producers, was on average 75%, and 73 and 67% for middle and small producers, which shows the contribution of farming to job creation. The productive activity of potato farming in 2009 was profitable according to the balance of received and paid bills.