Drought costs Mexico 450,000 head of cattle...or does it?

About 450,000 head of cattle have been lost in the drought affecting several states in Mexico, the National Peasants Confederation, which represents 5 million farmers and ranchers, said. The Agriculture Secretariat, however, said only 15,664 head of cattle had been reported lost to the drought by farmers and ranchers, resulting in the payment of 27.4 million pesos (about $2 million) in compensation. The losses occurred during the first 10 months of this year, the secretariat's general coordinator for ranching affairs, Everardo Gonzalez Padilla, said, adding that 512,000 producers were registered in the government support program. Members have reported that cattle are dying "because of the drought that has affected the states in the northern part of the country this year," the CNC, Mexico's main peasant organization and an ally of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said in a statement...more