He lemon boom lost deforesta the mayan jungle in the south of Yucatán, since companies foreigners from Colima, Michoacán and Veracruz advance to install orchards and packing plants, generating loss of biodiversity and contamination by agrochemicals in municipalities such as Succeed.
The expansion of the Persian lemon in the south of Yucatán
Political Animal shares the testimony of a woman whose identity is reserved for security, but who will be identified as Blanca, in Nohalalwho lives surrounded by Persian lemon plantations where there used to be Mayan cornfields, green mountains and white stone roads.
“Nohalal is no longer the same, it was pure jungle, now there are almost a thousand hectares deforested,” he says for said medium.
The case of this town in the municipality of Tekax is not isolated, since just last September 19 he Diary reported the deforestation of 968.62 hectares in ejidos Nohalal, Emiliano Zapata y Poccheil.
The lemon boom encourages the felling or clearing of vegetation in communities of municipalities of the so-called Southern Cone: Tekax, Tzucacab, Oxkutzcab and Ticul, where the crop is planned mainly for export to Japan and the United States.
Previously, Minneth Beatriz Medina Garcíadirector of the Puuc Intermunicipal Biocultural Board (Jibiopuuc), also warned in interview for Yucatan Diary that he intensive agriculture system threatens various crops and break the social fabric with the displacements they generate.
“In Tekax and Tzucacab, deforestation is evident. There are areas that are cut down within the Puuc State Biocultural Reserve,” says Camilo, another resident of Nohalal.
But he emphasized the lemon production, which also require a lot of waterwhich currently is already fumigation Not only is it done with machinery, but fumigation in both soybean and lemon crops is being done. with drones and that has caused bee mortality”.
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In this context, the lemon stands as green gold.
“Lemons have had a very high price in recent years. A twenty kilo box has been worth up to a thousand pesos. “This has made many want to replace other crops, even corn, with lemon,” Blanca commented..
The inhabitants assure that the companies that arrive are from Colima, Michoacán and Veracruz.
“They use water from local wells, spray with agrochemicals and do not have treatment plants. Everything is being done without control,” he denounces.
The lemon becomes the green gold that devastates the Mayan jungle
The Persian lemon, known as the new “green gold”, has become a symbol of prosperity for some producers.
However, behind this bonanza there is an ecological crisis that is advancing with tractors and indiscriminate logging.
Between May and August 2025, Profepa closed 25 properties equivalent to 6,325 hectares of devastated jungle in the Yucatán Peninsula, most of them linked to the lemon agroindustry.
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Residents denounce that the companies operate with government support and that, despite the closures, logging continues on other lands.
Environmental impact and loss of biodiversity
Deforestation not only implies the loss of trees, but also the fragmentation of biological corridors that connect with the Balamkú and Calakmul reserves, in Campeche, home of the jaguar, the ocellated turkey and the white-tailed deer, species protected by NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010.
Agrochemicals and death of bees in Tekax
Such as reported it Diary from July 1, 2025researchers from the Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Ecosur), Jaime González Tolentino, Eric Vides Borrell and Rémy Vandame presented the result of a toxicological analysis held at the police station My hallal, Techax, Yucatan, where the relationship between the use of agrochemicals in lemon crops and the mass death of bees is exposed.
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He Diary made known los study results which states that on May 10, 2025, the Nohalal community woke up with thousands of dead bees in front of the hives.
Then, it was reported that the tests confirmed poisoning by fipronil, a pesticide highly dangerous. The samples contained more than the lethal dose, affecting 349 hectares and causing losses of more than 465 thousand pesos.
“465,082 Mexican pesos of economic losses, considering honey production, the need for swarmsand the service pollination“, explained the Diary.
In this regard, Bertha Silvia Canul Díazone of the women guardians of the Puuc Biocultural Region He lamented that “there is more and more land being deforested to plant lemon. They use chemicals that kill the bees.”
“And it is not fair that after building for years a family heritage, we lose it in a matter of minutes“, expresses the meliponiculturist with more than 13 years of experience.
In addition to economic losses, residents report health problems, poisoning and water contamination. “They are poisoning us with the garbage they bring from other countries,” adds Silvia.
The agroindustrial model that advances in the jungle
Since 2017, workers from Campeche and Quintana Roo They began to rent or buy land in the Southern Cone of Yucatán, applying a mechanized agroindustrial model dependent on agrochemicals.
“The companies hire other people to operate the machinery and carry out the deforestation,” says Blanca.
The devastation is concentrated around the Flora and Fauna Protection Area Balanket and the Puuc Biocultural Reserveaffecting key ecosystems and putting pressure on the peninsular aquifer.
IN CONTEXT: Bala’an K’aax reserve damaged in Yucatán: area inhabited by Mennonites, Profepa intervenes
According to requests to Semarnat, the citrus projects do not have environmental impact studies nor have they been subjected to community consultation. In addition, ejidatarios denounce the irregular purchase of communal lands through intermediaries or bribes.
Agricultural investments and lots of “lemon orchards”
On social networks, agricultural real estate companies promote lots for “lemon orchards” in the south of the state.
One of them, Citrus Patrimonial, offers plantation certificates with the promise of returns “without complications or taxes.”
Their motto is clear: “Money does grow on our trees.” However, the model omits any reference to sustainability or environmental respect.
The Animal Político report indicates that, despite requests for information, the company did not respond to emails or calls.
Between prosperity and loss
While the price of lemon continues to rise, the southern Yucatan jungle is shrinking.
Between the promise of progress and the loss of territory, communities like Nohalal watch as the “green gold” shines brighter for a few, while leaving a shadow of deforestation, pollution and abandonment over the Mayan jungle.
“Lemons have become the new green gold, but they are being planted at the expense of our jungle,” Blanca concludes.
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