Fondos are mutual insurance funds that are formed by local growers, and only provide insurance to their members. Their advantage lies in their close connection to farmers and their knowledge of local agricultural conditions. Fondos are a very important means of commercial crop insurance in Mexico and over the 11 year period from 2001 to 2012 they have insured a total area of 9.5 million hectares (an average of 865,000 per year) of crops with a total sum insured of MXP 83 billion and a premium income of MXP 6 billion.