Controversy Over Proposed Milk Collection Center in Quintana Roo, Mexico
In Nicolás Bravo, Quintana Roo, federal authorities and representatives fr om Liconsa have proposed establishing a milk collection center to enhance regional commercialization. The plan includes channeling milk to a pasteurization plant in Campeche, aiming to create a formal infrastructure for collection and refrigeration. This initiative seeks to provide local producers with better sales conditions and reduce logistical costs.
The project is designed to support the regional circular economy by purchasing milk directly from farmers and facilitating its transport to industrial facilities. Authorities believe it could improve prices paid to producers and stabilize the commercial flow of raw milk in southern Quintana Roo.
However, several local cattle producers have raised concerns about the project's feasibility, citing the absence of a prior local production diagnostic to ensure sufficient fresh milk to sustain the expected volume. This has highlighted worries about the scarcity of raw materials and limited market infrastructure in the region, which traditionally relies on direct sales to artisanal cheesemakers without active formal collection centers.
The lack of a technical study quantifying real production and potential demand has fueled criticism among farmers. They call for clear market conditions, better purchase prices, and additional institutional support before committing to the scheme. For some, the initiative seems premature without an analysis of the local dairy herd's productive capacity and the collection center's operational sustainability.
This situation in Quintana Roo reflects common tensions in the dairy sector, wh ere the search for infrastructure and commercialization solutions by public entities meets the productive and market concerns of producers. Internationally, such debates underscore the need to pair collection investments with solid technical diagnostics to avoid imbalances between supply and processing capacity.
