Apatzingán, Michoacán.- Lemon cutting workers are unable to earn income due to organized crime groups that keep producers in the municipality of Apatzingán under threat for more than 20 days.
It is relevant to note that this municipality is the second producer of the Tierra Caliente, only in the first two months of 2023 Apatzingán produced 25 thousand 180 tons, only below Buenavista that leads the production with 32 thousand 664 tons and in third place is Múgica with 15 thousand 346 tons.
The families that depend on the citrus orchards are counted by hundreds, the payment for in the head of Apatzingán is 15 pesos per kilogram, that is, 375 pesos for a box of 25 kilos, of which the cutter has 125 pesos left up to 170 per box.
Taking into account the above, at the end of the day a cutter can get up to 4 boxes, that is, 500 pesos, if the week allows it only 2 times they can work in the garden, so a worker on average can earn from 700 pesos to a thousand pesos per week.
Given the lack of employment in the lemon cutting, the municipal government headed by the Morenista, José Luis Cruz Lucatero carried out an emergent delivery of DIF pantries to families who work in the orchards.
The aid is described by the cutters as insufficient, because these pantries are delivered one per family, in addition to the fact that each pantry has: 1/2 kilo of rice, 1/2 kilo of sugar, a small oil, minsa flour, beans, and lentils. Other pantries may bring oatmeal and a can of tuna.
“There are families that are more than 4, a pantry is not enough for everyone, we occupy work,” said one of those affected who commented that the vast majority of families work in the field, even the children help in the cut to be able to cover expenses, because they live day to day.
