"Zacatecas Produce y Transforma para el Mundo"

"Zacatecas State produces and process special goods for the world"

ExpoAgro in Zacatecas is a show to promote the goods that are produced in the state and it was held from the 2nd to the 19th of September, 2010 as a part of the State Annually Fair. This event was done as a petition of the people who live, work and produce in the Rural areas of this State, needs and concerns that are the base for the Strategic Plan for Rural Development that the government institutions are implementing.

Several Government Institutions did a tem work to make the Expo Agro possible, being SAGARPA (The Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Fishing and Food Department) in charge of coordinating them as a leader to promote Rural Development in order to generate wealth, employment, to improve the crops production and to enhance their commercial exchange.


The small rural business chosen to be at the ExpoAgroZacatecas were the ones that their products match the requirements of the local and regional markets, with the intention of getting an upper scale to reach other bigger markets. These small rural businesses have to improve some elements in their activity for it in order to get a better profit and to promote the employment of more people as a core part of the rural development, always under a Sustainable philosophy.

SERVICIOS	% GDP of Zac.
Commerce	15
Real Estate	14
Manufacturing	12
Construction	8
Services for Education	7
Government activities	6
Transportation, Postal and Storage	4
Health and Social Assistance	3
Hotels y Restaurants	2
Media	2

The major economic activities in Zacatecas are: Services, Mining and the ones related to Agriculture, Livestock, Silviculture and Fishing, the last one giving a 10 % to the GDP of the State; Among Services, Commerce gets 15 % and Manufacturing a 12 %.

Transformation of raw material into more elaborated products is scarce and the generation of small business to do that is an option for getting a better income, employ themselves in their communities and preserve food as well for their family and for the commercial trading.

On the other hand, even though Zacatecas gets one of the lowest unemployment rate of the country, from 4.5 to 5 %, it registers the highest migration of people to the USA of 4.8 % among the others states of Mexico as the next graph shows.




Zacatecas is the State of Mexico with the highest migration of people to the USA with 4.8 %, going for the American Dream because they have not a good paid work here and their getting into the USA is in many cases in an illegal way, which makes them harder to be able to find a job even to the lowest skilled ones.

Besides the migration to USA, in 20 % of the homes (66,204) of Zacatecas State the bread is provided by women who are in full charge of feeding, educating and caring for their children. These women have not a good education, nor does a good job to sustain their families and to be able to develop a small business provide them with an alternative for getting an income and avoid placing them on the streets.

Among men and women who have started a small business, there are some who are independent, getting their own income and with training they are reaching higher degrees of development and placing their goods on local and regional markets and a few of them are exporting.


The farmers of Zacatecas are doing a great job producing some crops as the table below indicates.

CROP	PLACE IN THE NATIONAL LEVEL
Dry Beans, Garlic, Dry Peppers and Cactus for forage.	1°
Cactus fruit and Grapes	2°
Green Peppers, Oat for forage and Guava.	3°
Peach and Agaves (for alcoholic drink)	4°
Onion	7°
Tomatillo, Tomatoes and Zucchini	8°

The crops production in Zacatecas show a good position to the national level, however the process of transforming them into more elaborated products is scarce and limited. Therefore the marketing of these products is manly in the fresh state.

Having enough fresh produce to process it is an advantage for the small rural business that allows them to generate more elaborate products that give them a better profit and make employment for themselves and others possible. All of these strategies strengthen local development to make rural communities strong before the globalization event.


- Revalue the agricultural crops as produce of quality that is important and irreplaceable for the human diet.
- To promote the commodities and the transformed products of this state.
- To give training to the small business owners so their products improve their quality and get a better presentation to place them in the markets.
- To favor commercial trading and the Exchange of experiences among them.
- To search for alternative markets.
- To establish a link between the farmers and the markets, as well as to act as a connection with the institutions in charge of planning and developing their activity.
- To provide information of machinery, equipment, consumables and services to improve and lower the cost of their activities.
- To generate a rural business directory.
- Identify commodities that need to be developed for specific markets.


1. To ensure the participation of 90 Small Rural business.
2. To include and collaborate with 8 institutions related to rural development.
3. To have 15,000 visitors.
4. To get al least 20 business meetings.


THE SMALL RURAL BUSINESS, INSTITUTIONS, SUPPLIERS AND ADVISING FIRMS FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT, IN THE EXPOAGROZACATECAS, 2010.

Quantity	Description
89	Small Rural Business.
87	Consortiums.
25	Suppliers for Machinery, Equipment, Consumables, and Service providers.
17	Institutions, Committees for specific crops*, Financial Entities, and Advising firms for Rural Development.
218	TOTAL

About 81 % of the participants to the ExpoAgroZacatecas Rural Business in different size but typically small with less than 6 persons working in them; with 50 % of them represented by some consortium, which is a good strategy to lower costs for promotion. The markets for the commodities of Rural Business are mostly local and regional, only a few of them are exporting primarily to USA.

Exporting is done mainly with horticultural crops under greenhouses or grown in the fields. Another produce "Mezcal" an alcoholic beverage (36° G.L.) made of 100 % Agave* is getting place in the international markets.

All the markets are important but developing and strengthen the local market is even more important as a way to enhance t he commercial trading that allows the people in their communities to withstand the global influence to an extent.

*Tequila can be made with up to 51 % of Agave.

#	Categories	Empresas	Description
1	Crafts and Goodies(The Woman’s Store by the State government SEDAGRO)	27	This is a good strategy to lower promotion and sale’s costs.
2	Marketing	21	Stock up, Distribution and Marketing, including some advice service for the farmers.
3	Mezcal	12	26 Brands.
4	Greenhouse products	11	2 Exporting consortiums: Tomato, Cucumber and Bell Pepper.
5	Nopal and Tuna (Cactus Fruit)	10	Pickles, Jams, Shampoos, etc.
6	Production, Marketing and Exporting	10	2 Small Business and 1 consortium.
7	Nopal and others.	8	1 Consortium for marketing.
8	Honey and Honey's products	8	20 different good products.
9	Cheese	7	Good flavor, home made cheese.
10	Textile	7	Embroidery, Table cover, etc.
11	Candy	6	High content of simples Carbohidrates.
12	Grains	5	Corn flour "Pinole", Granola, bread.
13	Salsas	5	Many types and degrees of "Hotness".
14	Crafts	5	Mostly as hornamentals.
15	Dry peppers	4	Mirasol, Ancho, Pasilla, Puya, etc dry peppers.
16	Candy	3	Takes more tan 50 % of some agricultural product like: peanuts, pumpkin and pumpkin's seeds, etc.
17	Guava	3	Sweets: Jam, rolls, candies.
18	Mole	3	Paste or powder, sweet, with almonds or hot, etc.
19	Restaurants	3	Fish, Chorizo (Pork’s) and Ostrich meat.
20	Liquors	3	Quincy, Peach, Plum, Pecan, and others; Cream of Mezcal (coffee, coconut, nuts, etc).
21	Pickles (Cueritos)	1	Pork’s skin pickles.
22	Saddlery	1	Belts, Bags, etc. good quality products
23	Garlic	1	Gourmet Pickles.
24	Snacks	1	Gourmet Olives filled with almonds and Pine nuts.
25	Peach	1	Whole peaches in syrup.
26	Dry beans	1	Precooked and seasoned with red pepper.
27	Table wine	1	For the local and regional market.
28	Purified water	1	1/4, 1/2, 1, 15 and 20 litres.
29	Spices	1	Oregano, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Chile powder.
30	Books	1	Text books mostly.
31	Rustic Furniture	1	Great diversity.
32	Leather garments	1	Made of animals that are used for food.
33	Mexican fast food	1	Local cuisine.
	TOTAL	176

ExpoAgroZacatecas 2010 was composed of: 80.7 % rural small business and rural small business grouped in consortiums; 11.5 % for suppliers of Machinery, Equipment and Consumables and 7.8 % of Institutions, Committees for specific crops, Financial Entities and Advising Firms for Rural Development. The estimated number of visitors was 40,000 persons for the whole event (17 days).

Most of the rural business are small in size and require their participants to get a better training to improve the quality and quantity of their goodies and to get the certifications that the markets are demanding. Also some instruction is needed for a better administration of their resources.

A very good strategy is their grouping into consortiums, to promote, to distribute and to market their goods. This allows them to lower their costs and improve their profits, besides they learn from each other.

The goals set for the ExpoAgroZacatecas were surpassed regarding to the number of small business attending in 100 %, from whom 20 % were family business just starting in the process of production and marketing their goods.

The team work among institutions was superior tan expected. However there is more to do to get a better link between Institutions and the general public. In order to transfer information, technology, knowledge and advice that can be used for everyone who might want to get into de production and marketing activities in the rural areas.

Among visitors registered, there were 574 in a 12 day period of the 19 days of the complete event with 86 % of them being locals. The local visitors were: 66 % general public, 11 % from an education or research institution and 9 % from private business. Outside visitors were; 10 % from another state and 2 % International and 2 % was unknown The counties represented in the ExpoAgroZacatecas were about half of the state therefore it is important to include at least one small business from each county, the ones that are important to replicate and to follow as an example to get the local economy moving.

What small business did we miss at the ExpoAgroZacatecas 2010 ?

- Small seed growers for Corn and Dry Beans to grow them under rain fed conditions in areas classified as with good and medium potential for grain production.
- Ethnic products.
- Wool items that have a good market in other countries with cold winters as socks, hats, gloves, scarfs, etc.
- Aloe Vera derivatives as dental crème and mouth wash.
- Goat milk cheese.
- Local table wines.
- Objects made of natural fibers like bags, rugs, rope, brushes, etc.
- Pine nut products (piñón), which has a good growing potential in marginal areas of the state.


- In order to get the state institutions in charge of the Rural Development to have a better impact on it, it could be helpful to assign one pavilion to each institution and make a contest among them with a prize for the best, yet the parameters of evaluation to be set.
- To include at least one small business from every county of the state.
- To identify alternative markets including the “Nostalgia” market of USA and to have permanent points for selling commodities that are produced in Zacatecas.
- Swaping of products among the small business owners.
- To incorporate activities and produces for children and teens.

What would the future be for ExpoagroZacatecas ?

The ExpoAgroZacatecas is planned to be a dynamic event occurring along the year. Including activities as promotion, marketing and exchange into the different scales of trading in the state, region, country and out of the country as well.

Also we would like to see the ExpoAgro as an event that might bring investors from Mexico and outiside to promote the development of this country in a fair trading that will allow Mexicans to stay in Mexico with their families.