RELEVANCE OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR AS AN INCOME GENERATOR IN THE STATES WITH THE HIGHEST POVERTY RATES IN MEXICO

Abstract

Mexico has undergone a transition from a predominantly agricultural society to one that is more diverse in terms of sources of income. Nevertheless, how this transition has affected the welfare of families and their members has not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, the study's objective was to analyze the effect of each source of income on the welfare of family units experiencing conditions of poverty in Mexico. The states studied were those with the highest poverty rates, such as Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, and Veracruz. An econometric model was used, and based on the results, elasticities were calculated to determine the impact of each income on welfare in percentage terms. Data from the National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure were used to generate the model. The sum of the expenses in the food and non-food baskets was considered as the dependent variable, whereas the income was taken as the independent variable. The results indicated that the income from subordinate work is the one that makes up the largest contribution, with an increase of 0.346%, followed by transfers, which presented an increase of 0.107%. On the other hand, remittances had better growth than agricultural and livestock income, with an increase of 0.008%. The current situation that shows a decrease in the relevance of the agricultural sector as a generator of welfare is reaffirmed, which has led to a high dependence on government transfers.