Participatory agricultural soil security index for Mexico: Regional disparities and implications for food production

• First national, participatory Soil Security Index (SSI) for Mexico • 65% of agricultural soils are insecure or moderately insecure • Social dimensions show major gaps in governance and producer capacity • Northern productive and southern traditional regions have lowest SSI values • SSI supports territorial prioritization for soil governance Soil security, an emergent property of social-ecological systems, connects soil functions with agricultural production and underpins long-term food security. However, national-scale assessments that integrate ecological and socio-institutional dimensions remain limited, particularly in Latin America. This study develops the first national, participatory Soil Security Index (SSI) for Mexico to inform soil governance and agricultural policy. The SSI operationalizes the five dimensions of soil security—capacity, condition, capital, connectivity, and codification—across agricultural lands through: (i) indicator selection; (ii) compilation and spatial harmonization of global and national datasets; (iii) participatory interpretation and weighting with researchers, government officials, field technicians, and producers; (iv) construction of dimension-specific indices (0–1) and an integrated SSI (0–5); and (v) regional statistical and spatial analysis. Results show that 65% of Mexico’s agricultural soils are insecure or moderately insecure. While soil condition exhibits relatively high values, deficits in capacity, capital, connectivity, and codification reflect structural constraints linked to intrinsic soil properties, intensive management, market integration barriers, limited technical training, and weak governance. Regional contrasts are pronounced: the Central South and Gulf of Mexico regions display the highest SSI values, whereas northern regions exhibit the lowest levels of soil security due to intensive production systems and limited institutional support. Intermediate values across the Yucatán Peninsula, Central West, and South Pacific regions highlight opportunities to strengthen sustainable soil management and producer capacity. The SSI provides a replicable, policy-relevant diagnostic tool for territorial prioritization and the design of differentiated regional interventions, offering an evidence-based foundation for soil governance in Mexico.