Author(s)

Alejandro de Jesús Cano-González¹, Genovevo Ramírez-Jaramillo¹, Jorge H. Ramírez-Silva¹, Nelda Guadalupe Uzcanga-Pérez², Mónica Guadalupe Lozano-Contreras^2*

¹Centro de Investigación Regional Sureste del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Mérida, Yucatán, México.
²Campo Experimental Mocochá del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Mocochá, Yucatán, México.

This work was carried out in the state of Yucatan, Mexico in El Zapotal reservation area. Corn is the main crop of the area cultivated in the Milpa Maya where shifting cultivation, based on the ancient slash-and-burn system, continues to be practiced by small farmers. Even though, the National Institute for Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research (INIFAP) has different technological components to be applied, the regionalized scope of these results has never been evaluated. The objective was to zone the reserve area for corn production (yield and surface), modeled with INIFAP technology and small farmers management, as a first step, before implementing a sound agroforestry program. For zoning, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to obtain the maps of the Homogeneous Response Units (HRU). The edaphic and climatic variables were included, as well as the physiological and management parameters of the crop to simulate and estimate crop performance. The potential yields and their corresponding areas, modeled with INIFAP technology, were the next: VERY LOW yield range from 0 to 1.68 t·h^-1 (363 ha), LOW from 1.68 to 3.37 t·h^-1 (3177 ha), MEDIUM from 3.37 to 5.06 t·h^-1 (13,449 ha), HIGH 5.06 to 6.74 t·h^-1 (39,550 ha), VERY HIGH from 6.74 to 8.40 t·h^-1 (38,720 ha). With farmers’ management, potential yields and surface were as follow: VERY LOW yield from 0 to 0.77 t·h^-1 (12,199 ha), LOW from 0.77 to 1.55 t·h^-1 (13,236 ha), MEDIUM from 1.55 to 2.32 t·h^-1 (42,448 ha), HIGH from 2.32 to 3.09 t·h^-1 (38,767 ha) and VERY HIGH from 3.09 at 3.87 t·h^-1 (8609 ha). Yields can increase by more than 100% by using INIFAP technology.

SWAT, Shifting Cultivation, Deforestation, Ecosystems

de Jesús Cano-González, A., Ramírez-Jaramillo, G., Ramírez-Silva, J.H., Uzcanga-Pérez, N.G. and Lozano-Contreras, M.G. (2022) Productive Zoning for the Corn Milpa System in El Zapotal Reserve Area of Tizimin Yucatan, Mexico. Open Access Library Journal, 9, 1-10. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1109284.