Diversity of Mexican diets and agricultural systems and their impact on the land requirements for food

Mexico is a megadiverse country with large agroclimatic diversity and socioeconomic inequality. These two factors result in strong diversity in diets and agricultural systems within the country. In this paper, we assess the impact of Mexican diets and production systems on the per capita land requirements for food. We estimate it for the extremes: from the very basic diet of the poorest share of the population to the affluent diet of the richest share of the population; and for extensive and intensive systems, with irrigation as the indicator of the intensity of the system. We show that the basic diet produced in rainfed systems requires 1620 m2/cap/yr and produced in irrigate systems requires 700 m2/cap/yr. The affluent diet produced in rainfed systems requires 2540 m2/cap/yr and produced in irrigated systems requires 1230 m2/cap/yr. Hence, differences in diets result in a requirement for 80% or 60% more land for an affluent diet; and differences in production systems result in more than twice the amount of land for extensive than for intensive systems. In 2050, it would be possible to feed the entire population with affluent diets only if all the present area of crop land had the productivity of intensive systems. In contrast, it would be possible to feed all people with a basic diet even if all present crop land area had only the productivity of extensive systems.