Expresiones regionales de la cadena de valor de la miel en el estado de Hidalgo, México

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the regional honey value chain and identify the factors (natural, technological, socio-productive, and marketing) that limit or favor the insertion of this product into global trade chains and the generation of income. To this end, value chains are established as a consequence of the dynamics of the current food system, in which specific market niches are generated for products whose origin is on the other side of the world. The state of Hidalgo is divided into three beekeeping regions: Gulf, Sierra, and Altiplano, according to their natural characteristics. The honey production process is analyzed in each one, establishing differences and meeting points. Finally, the strengths and areas of opportunity to increase beekeepers' benefits were detected. The results indicate that the honey chain is global in the Gulf region, in which beekeepers are integrated into the national collection and export networks, but also local and short in the Sierra and the Altiplano, in which only a couple of actors are involved. In both cases, the chain is disjointed, and the value it generates is distributed unequally since the producers who enter the global market produce honey of excellent quality but receive a payment of up to a fifth of what the final consumer pays in another country, explaining their low income.