"Bread Basket of Mexico," destroyed after freeze

The countryside of northern Mexico Hardest hit was the northwestern state of Sinaloa, known as the "Bread Basket of Mexico," where about 750,000 acres of corn crops were reportedly destroyed after unusually cold temperatures blanketed the north of the country in January and early February.

Altogether, more than 1.5 million acres of corn, vegetable, citrus and other crops were either damaged or destroyed in Sinaloa, with a preliminary economic loss of approximately US$1 billion.

The source of about 30 percent of Mexico's grains and vegetables, Sinaloa also exports food products to the United States.

Other northern states also experienced the widespread destruction of winter crops. In Sonora, more than 130,000 acres were reported lost, including 45 percent of the acreage planted in winter wheat. In Tamaulipas, nearly 800,000 acres in corn and sorghum were impacted, while crop losses in Chihuahua were calculated in the US$100 million ballpark.

"This is not a common catastrophe," Calderon said in a February 11 speech in Culiacan. "It is not a routine crop loss, if you will, but truly an emergency situation."

Meanwhile, as crop damage assessments began flowing in, prices for tortillas continued on the upswing, reportedly reaching $13 pesos per kilo in places like Chilpancingo, Guerrero. The price is more than 50 percent higher than the $8 peso ceiling the Calderon administration pledged in 2007.

Read full from  - Via (Harvest Dream)