possible the capitalization of the rural areas. Similarly, measures have been adopted aimed at expanding and increasing the production of basic foods for consumption, first and foremost in the non-irrigated areas. 207. Effectively, an enormous effort has been made to break the trend unfavourable to rural Mexico in the economic relationships between the countryside and the towns by means of the timely and flexible setting of guaranteed prices for agricultural products. In fixing prices, in additon to taking into account increases in the cost of production, the rate of inflation and the increase in the minimum wage have also been allowed for. Beans, rice, soya, safflower and cottonseed have maintained a level of increase similar to that of those two indicators, whereas maize, sorghum and sunflowers have obtained greater increases as an incentive to increase production and reduce imports. Although sesame and copra are crops used in industry and maintain a market price, a guaranteed price has been set to protect the producers in case there is a speculative drop on the part of the industries using them. 208. To counter the problem of minifundia, the Government has encouraged the amalgamation of ejidos and communities to form Rural Development Units which enable better use to be made of the natural resources. In Mexico there are some two million minifundia owned by members of ejidos or small proprietors. 209. At the end of 1986 Mexico occupied sixth place in the world for the number of hectares irrigated - about 5 1/2 million hectares. In all there were 1,270 impounding dams, providing a total water storage capacity of 136.000 million cubic metres. There were also over 30,000 irrigation wells in operation. Between 1983 and 1986 316,000 hectares were opened up to irritation, benefiting 62,800 families. During the same period the 
**Analysis**
The text primarily discusses the efforts of the Mexican government to improve the economic and agricultural conditions in rural areas, including the production and pricing of agricultural products, the problem of minifundia, and the development of irrigation systems. This suggests that the text is focused on economic development and agriculture, with some overlap into natural resources and environment.

**Category**
Agriculture, forestry and fishing, Economic development