The Baja California Sur Secretary of Fisheries and Agricultural Development (SEPADA) has begun rolling out drought relief measures in Miraflores, a rural farming community about 70 kilometers northeast of Cabo San Lucas in the Los Cabos municipality. The program targets ranchers and small-scale farmers struggling through a prolonged dry spell that has strained the agricultural backbone of the southern peninsula.
Dam Repair and New Crops
Central to the effort is the rehabilitation of a water retention dam in Miraflores to secure irrigation for local farms. SEPADA is also launching planting programs for nopal (prickly pear cactus), sorghum, and fodder corn, all drought-tolerant crops already cultivated on ranches in other parts of the state.
The planting strategy mirrors a similar SEPADA initiative in the Valle de Santo Domingo, near Ciudad Constitución, where five hectares of high-efficiency corn and forage sorghum were planted in March 2026 as part of the same statewide drought response.
Feed, Funds, and Veterinary Support
Beyond crops, the state will deliver fodder and concentrated feed directly to ranchers in the Miraflores area. A revolving fund will provide low-barrier financing to producers who need capital to keep operations running. SEPADA will also assign a veterinarian to monitor livestock health in the community, a step aimed at catching disease or malnutrition before herds deteriorate further.
These measures fall under the state’s permanent Drought Response Program, which SEPADA has activated across multiple regions of BCS this year.
Drought Conditions Across BCS
The program comes as drought conditions continue to worsen across Baja California Sur. According to Mexico’s National Meteorological Service (SMN), 65.9 percent of the country’s surface area was experiencing drought conditions as of late April 2025. BCS was listed among the most affected states, with the north and center of Mexico bearing the heaviest impact.
In Los Cabos, the water crisis carries particular weight. The municipality’s rapid tourism-driven growth has placed enormous pressure on aquifers, and agriculture competes directly with urban and resort demand for limited groundwater. Miraflores, once a productive farming hub known for its leather goods and ranch culture, has seen production decline as water tables drop.
For the roughly 2,000 residents of Miraflores and surrounding rancherías, the SEPADA program represents a concrete, if modest, lifeline. The dam repair alone could restore irrigation capacity that has been diminished for months.
This story was first reported by the BCS state government press office at bcs.gob.mx.