Lack of Internet infrastructure limits agribusiness growth in Mexico

There are some limitations for Mexico to reach its potential as one of the agricultural giants, and these are low investment, low labor force, lack of trained companies, and insufficient Internet infrastructure.

This was pointed out by Mtro. Gerardo García Barragán, CEO of Compu Campo, in his conference "Agro 4.0", in which he explained the challenges that agriculture must meet by 2050 and that these could be achieved with the use of technology.

The conference was part of the celebration of the Engineering Week aimed at students and academics of the Autonomous University of Guadalajara (UAG).
"Agro 4.0" is the name given to the use of information technologies and tools, Internet of Things, communication, drones, satellites, robotics, automation, Big Data, sensors, and other tools, for the benefit of the field and to make agriculture "smarter", which results in profits, better production and sustainability for the planet.

Mtro. García Barragán pointed out that, of these limitations, the main hindrance to the growth of the industry is the scarce infrastructure to bring the internet to the most remote corners of the country; in addition, the quality of the network would not allow producers to use it to boost their businesses.

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), Mexico has 63.9% Internet coverage for its population, that is, around 71 million users.

"They can get investment if their project is strong if they get the money they can train staff, but none of this is going to help if the Internet service is of low quality or simply not there," he said.

Unfortunately, poverty and the low level of education in rural areas of Mexico are two factors that force the population to look for other opportunities and migrate to cities or abroad, which brings short and long-term consequences.

"People leave their towns, fields, farms and when they are abandoned, governments and companies do not see it profitable to grow the infrastructure service to bring internet to all of Mexico, even though that was one of the plans," he explained.

However, these difficulties open an interesting panorama for the expert, and that is that it is an opportunity for young people and professionals who study careers dedicated to the agri-food industry, electronics, and programming since there are possibilities for the development of technologies, businesses, and services.

"Therefore, the last word has not been saying and it is up to you to look for alternatives, this is what the new industry is based on, to innovate", he concluded.