Farmers Demand Governor Monreal Open Promised Bean Collection Centers

ByAlfredo Valadez Rodríguez

This article by Alfredo Valadez Rodríguez originally appeared in the March 4, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Zacatecas, Zacatecas. Hundreds of bean farmers protested, for the umpteenth time – as they have been doing throughout the state since last December – this time in the municipality of Cañitas de Felipe Pescador, to demand that the government of David Monreal Ávila open the collection centers so that their harvests, which they “picked up” in October 2025, can be stored in the SEGALMEX warehouses.

Fernando Galván, spokesperson for the farmers, lamented the irregular operation of warehouses throughout the state, and denounced the delay of the Morena administration in receiving the legume, a situation that causes it to lose technical characteristics such as moisture, which will affect the price, or even the rejection of the harvests.

He pointed out that this situation had never occurred in modern times, “the opening and operation of the official collection centers to acquire beans at a base price of 27 pesos per kilogram failed due to bureaucratic problems between SEGALMEX, the Federal Secretariat of Agriculture and the state government of David Monreal, which the authorities have not clarified.”

Dozens of farmers blocked Federal Highway 45 in Zacatecas yesterday due to the lack of collection centers for their bean harvest. Photo: Alfredo Valadez

He added that because of this, “government ineptitude allowed organized crime groups to set up their own informal – but mandatory – collection system, with armed men in the bean-growing area of ​​Zacatecas and its borders with Durango, where farmers were prevented from taking their harvests to other states on their own and were forced to sell to coyotes, at a ridiculously low price of between 7 and 8 pesos per kilo.

Desperate due to the crisis and coerced, some producers sold, but many more have kept their harvest stored in their homes since October; however, they continue with road blockades in different parts of Zacatecas, to demand that the state government open the official warehouses.

Now it turns out that most of the 52 collection centers are full; because, the producers explain, large volumes of beans were acquired illegally from the same middlemen who scammed other farmers with very low prices, and thus obtained millions in profits.

“We demand that the government open the warehouses in the communities of Las Boquillas and Río de Medina, where there is still space. We ask that they increase the volume collected in this agricultural cycle, because thousands of farmers were left out due to the corruption of the government itself,” Galván denounced.

The largest bean production in the state is concentrated in Sombrerete, Río Grande, Nieves, Miguel Auza, Juan Aldama, Sain Alto, Fresnillo and Cañitas de Felipe Pescador; in 2025, thanks to the excellent rainy season, production reached 400 thousand tons, and it is estimated that there are 80 thousand farmers and their families who are dedicated to the planting of beans and corn.