CNIT and agave growers promote an agenda to strengthen women’s heritage and leadership in the agricultural sector

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, March 13, 2026

CS06/2026

The Chamber of the Tequila Industry (CNIT) and the Agave Tequila Product System initiated a working agenda with women producers to strengthen their participation in the productive chain, promote legal certainty over their land, and advance the legal recognition of their assets within the industry.

The meeting, coordinated by Eng. José Luis Zaragoza Robles, President of the Agave Tequila Product System (SIPAT), brought together producers from different states such as Jalisco, Nayarit, and Michoacán, with the objective of establishing mechanisms to support their professionalization, facilitate their direct linkage with tequila producers, and expand their access to sector formalization programs.

During the meeting, the importance of women agave producers having administrative control and legal recognition over their land and productive activities was highlighted, as this is a key condition to strengthen their economic autonomy and their participation in the development of the agave sector.

“The Tequila agroindustry is built on the work of thousands of rural families. Recognizing the assets of women agave producers and their leadership as landowners and producers is an important step to make visible their historical contribution to agave cultivation and to strengthen a more equitable productive chain, with greater participation from all its actors,” stated Ana Cristina Villalpando Fonseca, General Director of CNIT.

For the Agave Tequila Product System and CNIT, this shift in approach seeks to address the low level of land ownership among women in Mexico. Zaragoza Robles emphasized that the organization of these meetings aims to legally formalize an activity that many families have passed down for generations, but which lacked official documentation to support women heads of household before regulatory bodies.

As part of the agreements, it was established that Zaragoza Robles will coordinate with the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) actions to facilitate the registration of producers in the Agave Responsable Social (ARS) program, bringing service modules closer to agave-growing communities and promoting their incorporation into responsible commercialization schemes.

Participating producers highlighted that this support represents an opportunity to strengthen the legal protection of their assets and consolidate their participation in the Tequila agroindustry.

Finally, the meeting concluded with the institutional commitment to maintain this direct support link through the representation of the Product System. The objective is clear: to professionalize the agricultural sector alongside women and ensure that the economic benefits of tequila directly reach those who work the land, without intermediaries.

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