Fig 1.
Crop germplasm improvement, evaluation, and delivery through A) the CGIAR-NARS route; B) the private route; and C) public-private partnerships that incorporate a commercial and market perspective along the maize seed value chain.
Table 1.
Changes in the maize seed sector in Mexico with the implementation of MasAgro.
Table 2.
Overview of MasAgro sampled seed companies (n = 31).
Fig 2.
Improved maize seeds coverage, maize rainfed area, maize production and yields by commercial maize seed region in Mexico.
Source: Authors, generated in ArcGIS using state boundaries from [55] and data from [50,54].
Fig 3.
Timeline of the evolution of the Mexican maize seed industry, 1930–2020.
Department of Experimental Stations (DCE), Office of Special Studies (OEE), Institute of Agricultural Research (IIA), National Maize Commission (CNM), Seed Department of the General Office of Agriculture (DS-SAG), National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA), National Seed Production Company (PRONASE), National System for Seeds Inspection and Certification (SNICS), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Mexican Seed Producers Association A.C. (AMSAC), National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research (INIFAP), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), National System of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (SINAREFI), Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety), Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro), National Seed System (SINASEM), Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), Law of Production, Certification and Commercialization of Seeds (LFPCCS 1961, 1991 and 2007), Federal Law of Plant Varieties (LFVV 1996 and 2020), Genetically Modified Crops and Biosafety Law (LBOGM). Source: Authors.
Fig 4.
Market shares of multinational and national seed companies in the Mexican maize seed industry, 2011–2019.
Source: [45]. Seed sales of multinational companies were adjusted using official seed imports and exports from [60].
Table 3.
MasAgro hybrid maize release records, 2011–2019.
Fig 5.
Fig 6.
Maize seed variety releases by CIMMYT for MasAgro, public NARS, national and multinational seed companies, 2011–2019.
Table 4.
GY regression coefficients, standard errors, and significance levels of MasAgro, multinational, private national and public hybrids evaluated in the MasAgro seed evaluation networks in Mexico, 2011–2019.
Fig 7.
Average grain yield (t/ha) of MasAgro, multinational, private national and public hybrids evaluated in the Highlands, Subtropical and Tropical MasAgro seed evaluation networks in 2011–2019.
Source: [33].
Fig 8.
Product portfolio composition of maize varieties, 2011–2019 (n = 31). Source: [34,41,42].
Fig 9.
Composition of maize seed sales by seed category, 2011–2019 (n = 31).
Fig 10.
Product portfolio composition of maize varieties by germplasm source and year of introduction to the market, 2011–2019 (n = 31). Source: [34,41,42].
Table 5.
Product portfolio composition of maize varieties and composition of maize seed sales by varieties’ year of introduction to the market, 2011–2019 (n = 31).
Fig 11.
Market shares of MasAgro, private MasAgro, public, private national and multinational hybrids, and concentration indexes in the Mexican maize seed market, 2011–2019.
Source: [45].