Mexican president launches ambitious forestry, orchard plan

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador launched an ambitious forestry program Friday to plant fruit and timber trees, as well as cacao and coffee, on nearly 1.5 million acres (570,000 hectares) in the country’s south.

The government program will pay farmers a wage of about $250 per month to care for plots averaging about 6 acres (2.5 hectares).

Lopez Obrador returned to his roots in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, where he began his public-service career in the 1970s helping obtain land for Chontal Indians.

“This is where we started the struggle, visiting towns . . .