Agriculture in Costa Rica
Encyclopedia
Costa Rican Agriculture plays a profound part in country’s GDP
. It makes up about 6.5% of Costa Rica
’s GDP, and 14% or the labor force
. Depending on location and altitude, many regions differ in agricultural crops and techniques. The main exports from the country include: banana
s, pineapple
s, coffee
, sugar
, rice
, vegetable
s, tropical fruits, ornamental plant
s, corn
, potato
es, and timber
. Almost 10% of the countries land use
is devoted to agriculture
. Development and economic growth within the country is due to hastened agricultural-export production. Costa Rican farmers and multinational corporations within Costa Rica practice two primary methods of farming: Plantation
agriculture which includes practices by global companies such as Dole
, Chiquita
, Del Monte
, etc. and Sustainable/Permaculture
. There are also numerous indigenous communities that practice subsistence farming in the Limon Region
on the Eastern side of Costa Rica.
dates back about 3,000 years. The country’s name ‘Costa Rica’ translates to ‘Rich Coast’ because the first settlers to come across the country (Christopher Columbus
; although the country was inhabited by indigenous well before) believed it to hold quantities of gold
based on observations of indigenous inhabitants. The rolling mountains and dense jungles were full of biologic diversity but eventually found this original belief of a gold rich county to be wrong.
During the 19th century, coffee and banana cultivation brought some wealth to Costa Rica which resulted in class differentiation. During this time, in 1821, Costa Rica declared independence from Spain
. Throughout most of the country's history, Costa Rica has remained quite peaceful besides a civil war
in the 20th-century. This war was the most turmoil the country had ever witnessed. Soon after the war, around 1949, the country disbanded its military, so funds traditionally allocated for national defense were able to be utilized by conservation
efforts.
and sedimentary rock
s was conducted in order to achieve these results. A pollen diagram was used on the soil to determine the history held in the soil. Research found near-continuous human occupation of the basin for the entire 3000-year period spanned by the pollen diagram. The pollen evidence indicated that people were living and growing maize
during the time of the Curre´ archaeological phase (1500–300 bc). Fluctuations in pollen
types and profusion of charcoal
suggest that the intensity of human impact varied over this time period.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Total area || 51 100 km2
|-
| Density of population
|| 89.6 persons per km2
|-
|Total area per 1000 population || 11.2 km2 per 1000 population
|-
|Land area || 51 060 km2
|-
| Land area per 1000 population || 11.2 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Land area (percentage of total area) || 99.9 % of total area
|-
| Water surface || 40 km2
|-
| Water surface per 1000 population || 0.0 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Water surface (percentage of total area) || 0.1 % of total area
|-
| Agricultural land || 27 500 km2
|-
| Agricultural land per 1000 population || 6.0 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Agricultural land (percentage of total area) || 53.8 % of total area
|-
| Agricultural land (percentage of land area) || 53.9 % of land area
|-
| Arable
land || 2 000 km2
|-
| Arable land per 1000 population || 0.4 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Arable land (percentage of total area) || 3.9 % of total area
|-
| Arable land (percentage of land area) || 3.9 % of land area
|-
| Arable land (percentage of agricultural land) || 7.3 % of agricultural area
|-
| Permanent crop
s || 3 000 km2
|-
| Permanent crops per 1000 population || 0.7 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Permanent crops (percentage of total area) || 5.9 % of total area
|-
| Permanent crops (percentage of land area) || 5.9 % of land area
|-
| Permanent crops (percentage of agricultural land) || 10.9 % of agricultural area
|-
| Permanent meadow
s and pasture
s || 22 500 km2
|-
| Permanent meadows and pastures per 1000 population || 4.9 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Permanent meadows and pastures (percentage of total area) || 44.0 % of total area
|-
| Permanent meadows and pastures (percentage of land area) || 44.1 % of land area
|-
| Permanent meadows and pastures (percentage of agricultural land) || 81.8 % of agricultural area
|-
| Forest
area || 23 970 km2
|-
| Forest area per 1000 population || 5.2 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Forest area (percentage of total area) || 46.9 % of total area
|-
| Forest area (percentage of land area) || 46.9 % of land area
|-
| Other land || -410 km2
|-
| Other land per 1000 population || -0.1 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Other land (percentage of total area) || -0.8 % of total area
|-
| Other land (percentage of land area) || -0.8 % of land area
|}
, Costa Rica is considered a tropical
/mesothermal
climate. The country lays at 10° 0' 0" N / 84° 0' 0" W causing year-round tropical weather. Average yearly rainfall varies greatly depending on location and altitude. Costa Rican seasons are actually defined by the amount of rainfall. The seasons are defined as Verano
(which translates to summer) is the 'dry' season and runs from December to May, and Invierno (meaning winter) is the 'wet' season and runs from May to November.
s. These plantations (i.e. Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita) primarily grow bananas, pineapples, sugar, coffee, and ornamental plants. Many crops cultivated through plantation farming are usually genetically modified to improve and hasten growth and increase resistance to pests and diseases. This type of agriculture requires altering and changing much of the landscape. Large sectors of forest are demolished to make way for huge high-yield corporate agricultural fields. This in turn has a major influence on surrounding ecosystems. Many of the methods practiced within these monocultures cause considerable effects on surrounding biodiversity
and human communities. These agricultural fields are one of the primary causes of deforestation
in Costa Rica. The clearing of forests makes more land open for plantations to harvest mass quantities of crops. Many plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammal populations are drastically declining. As a result of the heavy use of pesticide
s used in plantation farming many domestic flora and fauna are dying off. While some pests, such as the very venomous Fer de lance snake are rapidly multiplying. This is due to the fact that because so much land is cleared the snake species can capture its prey with much more ease, as there is less to hide behind. This along with deforestation then effects the countries biodiversity, which (for a country that is about the size of West Virginia
) accounts for 5% of the world's biodiversity.
With such large areas of land to farm, this method of primarily monoculture farming requires the use of heavy machinery. This type of farming is also blamed for much of the countries greenhouse gas emissions. But what makes our food system really unsustainable is "the globalized commodity trade that has resulted in the integration of the food supply chain and its concentration in the hands of a few transnational corporations. This greatly increases the carbon footprint
and energy intensity
of our food consumption, and at tremendous social and other environmental costs.
Since 1999, the Rodale Institute’s long-term trials in the United States
have reported that energy use in the conventional system was 200 percent higher than in either of two organic systems - one with animal manure and green manure
, the other with green manure only - with very little differences in yields. Research in Finland
showed that while organic farming
used more machine hours than conventional farming, total energy consumption was still lowest in organic systems; that was because in conventional systems, more than half of total energy consumed in rye
production was spent on the manufacture of pesticides".
production. The use of intensive agrochemicals on large plantations make cash crop production to be the most harmful to the surrounding area.
Indigenous tribes lack legislation that would limit agrochemicals, so much of the runoff
affects the rivers used by the Bribri
and other indigenous tribes inhabiting Costa Rica.
s house 5% of the world’s biodiversity and 26% of them are protected in some way. The advent of genetically modified organisms has become an enormous industry because of the fragile nature of monoculture agribusiness
of the United States and conventional plantations the Europeans introduced to Costa Rica. When hundreds of acres are deforested and covered with only one type of one plant, the farmer has elevated the potential for blight
s, insect
infestations, and other disturbances to be disastrous. Nature knows that a diverse community of species not only act as biological controls for each other, but also stabilize the entire area because only some species will be affected by disturbances. Plantation agriculture taken the homes of many biota causing a huge shift in species diversity
. One of the most venomous snakes in Costa Rica, the fer de lance, has actually benefited from this type of agriculture. As land is cleared for agro fields, their prey has fewer places to hide, causing a substantial ease in their hunt. Before plantations began to deforesting, fer de lance survival rate was only about 2%. Today, with increasing rates of deforestation and plantation agriculture their survival rate is somewhere between 60-70%.
agricultural methods are becoming increasingly popular throughout Costa Rica. With the countries declaration to become the first carbon-neutral country by 2021, this is their first step in attaining such a goal. Crop rotation
is one of the practices executed by sustainable farmers in Costa Rica. Since many plants are planted together, one major benefit of crop rotation is that each crop has a different harvesting period providing food and income year-round. This method also reduces soil erosion, a major environmental issue in Costa Rica. Instead of using chemicals to prevent pests many of these farmers harvest plants such as lemongrass and citrosa, natural pest repellants. The use of crop rotation, and seasonally changing crops also deters pests that feed on particular individual types crops since that crop is only around for a short period of time. Companion planting is another method employed by sustainable farmers in Costa Rica. For example, planting mint around vegetables helps deter many pests as the aroma is unappealing to them. Planting rue
helps in detering the Japanese beetle
, a major agricultural pest. A newer technology method that sustainable farmers in Costa Rica are beginning to employ is the use of plug-flow anaerobic digesters. These machines are “long, narrow, insulated, and heated tanks made of reinforced concrete, steel or fiberglass with a gas tight cover to capture the biogas
. It is loaded with thick manure of 11 – 14 percent total solids. When the manure reaches the outlet it discharges over an outlet weir arranged to maintain a gas tight atmosphere but still allow the effluent
to flow out. Biogas produced by the digester is used to heat the digester to the desired temperature. Excess biogas can be used to run an engine generator. Heat can also be recovered from the engine generator and used for space or floor heating, water heating or steam production to offset the cost of purchased electricity
, propane
, natural gas
or fuel oil
used on the farm for daily operations”. Leftover manure is then mixed with soil and added to the cropland. Around 18 percent of all greenhouse gas admissions can be attributed to animal agriculture today, therefore employing plug-flow digesters is another step Costa Rican sustainable farmers are taking to reduce green house gas admissions. With more sustainable farming methods employed in Costa Rica, less energy is generally required from the farmer because the agriculture system sustains itself.
. These tribes rely on natural growth within the forest as well as small sustainable gardens to produce enough food for a clan to survive on. The Bribri tribe of Talamanaca, reside in the Limon region and cultivate more than 120 wild and domestic crop species providing provisions, building materials, medicine, and trade items for the people. Any food or resources left over are quickly traded for other commodities the clan cannot produce for themselves (i.e. medicine, food, clothes, etc). BriBri Indians implement different agricultural techniques to maintain and enrich their native traditions. Agroforestry, an interactive practice of positioning forest flora amongst crops that have mutualistic relationships is one of these traditions. “They use natural nutrient cycling and symbiotic relationships
between plants, insects, birds, bats, and other animals to provide natural mechanisms for pest control, incorporate soil rejuvenating legume trees, and produce relay harvests throughout the year”. Some other practices these subsistence farmers adhere to include: maintaining their natural resource base, manage pests and diseases through internal regulating mechanisms rather than pestisides and other chemicals, and relying on minimum artificial inputs from outside the farm system. Many of these Costa Rican communities are beginning to the effects of globalization
as many plantations are buying up land and invading indigenous areas. Recent government action has led to mitigation of such effects. “On September 12, the Administrative Tribunal of Contention ordered the relevant federal agencies – the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA) and the National Commission of Indigenous Affairs (CONAI) – to expropriate more than 11,000 acres of land to be returned to the Bribri community of the Kekoldi reservation—this part of Bribri territory is currently occupied by non-indigenous people.”
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
. It makes up about 6.5% of Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
’s GDP, and 14% or the labor force
Labor force
In economics, a labor force or labour force is a region's combined civilian workforce, including both the employed and unemployed.Normally, the labor force of a country consists of everyone of working age In economics, a labor force or labour force is a region's combined civilian workforce,...
. Depending on location and altitude, many regions differ in agricultural crops and techniques. The main exports from the country include: banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
s, pineapple
Pineapple
Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
s, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
, rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s, tropical fruits, ornamental plant
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
s, corn
Corn
Corn is the name used in the United States, Canada, and Australia for the grain maize.In much of the English-speaking world, the term "corn" is a generic term for cereal crops, such as* Barley* Oats* Wheat* Rye- Places :...
, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, and timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
. Almost 10% of the countries land use
Land use
Land use is the human use of land. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. It has also been defined as "the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover...
is devoted to agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. Development and economic growth within the country is due to hastened agricultural-export production. Costa Rican farmers and multinational corporations within Costa Rica practice two primary methods of farming: Plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
agriculture which includes practices by global companies such as Dole
Dole Food Company
Dole Food Company, Inc. is an American-based agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Westlake Village, California. The company is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, operating with 74,300 full-time and seasonal employees who are responsible for over 300...
, Chiquita
Chiquita Brands International
Chiquita Brands International Inc. is an American producer and distributor of bananas and other produce, under a variety of subsidiary brand names, collectively known as Chiquita. Other brands include Fresh Express salads, which it purchased from Performance Food Group in 2005...
, Del Monte
Del Monte Foods
Del Monte Foods is an American food production and distribution company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest producers, distributors and marketers of branded food and pet products for the U.S. retail market, generating approximately $3.6...
, etc. and Sustainable/Permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
. There are also numerous indigenous communities that practice subsistence farming in the Limon Region
Limón Province
Limón is one of seven provinces in Costa Rica. The majority of its territory is situated in the country's Caribbean lowlands, though the southwestern portion houses part of an extensive mountain range known as the Cordillera de Talamanca...
on the Eastern side of Costa Rica.
History
The History of Costa RicaHistory of Costa Rica
-Early history:In Pre-Columbian times the Native Americans in what is now Costa Rica were part of a cultural complex known as the "Intermediate Area," between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions....
dates back about 3,000 years. The country’s name ‘Costa Rica’ translates to ‘Rich Coast’ because the first settlers to come across the country (Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
; although the country was inhabited by indigenous well before) believed it to hold quantities of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
based on observations of indigenous inhabitants. The rolling mountains and dense jungles were full of biologic diversity but eventually found this original belief of a gold rich county to be wrong.
During the 19th century, coffee and banana cultivation brought some wealth to Costa Rica which resulted in class differentiation. During this time, in 1821, Costa Rica declared independence from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Throughout most of the country's history, Costa Rica has remained quite peaceful besides a civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
in the 20th-century. This war was the most turmoil the country had ever witnessed. Soon after the war, around 1949, the country disbanded its military, so funds traditionally allocated for national defense were able to be utilized by conservation
Conservation
Conservation may refer to:* Conservation movement, to protect animals, fungi, plants and their habitats** Conservation biology, the science of the protection and management of biodiversity...
efforts.
Case Study
A study conducted by Rachel Clement and Sally Horn provides evidence of 3000 years of human occupation including forest clearance, agriculture and fires in the area. An in depth analysis of soilSoil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
and sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
s was conducted in order to achieve these results. A pollen diagram was used on the soil to determine the history held in the soil. Research found near-continuous human occupation of the basin for the entire 3000-year period spanned by the pollen diagram. The pollen evidence indicated that people were living and growing maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
during the time of the Curre´ archaeological phase (1500–300 bc). Fluctuations in pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
types and profusion of charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
suggest that the intensity of human impact varied over this time period.
Major Agricultural Products
| Rank | Commodity | Production (Int $1000) | Production (Mt) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bananas | 652108 | 2365470 |
| 2 | Pineapples | 533070 | 1870120 |
| 3 | Cow milk, whole, fresh | 286053 | 916657 |
| 4 | Indigenous Cattle Meat Beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in... |
251409 | 93067 |
| 5 | Indigenous Chicken Meat Chicken (food) Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :... |
141146 | 99091 |
| 6 | Sugar cane | 133433 | 4100000 |
| 7 | Coffee | 98440 | 91627 |
| 8 | Fruit Fruit In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,... , Fresh |
89112 | 255310 |
| 9 | Indigenous Pigmeat Pork Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC.... |
82997 | 53991 |
| 10 | Palm oil Palm oil Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the... |
82990 | 190757 11 70233 |
| 11 | Rice, paddy | 70233 | 256460 |
| 12 | Orange Orange (fruit) An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world.... s |
67640 | 350000 13 |
| 13 | Cassava Cassava Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates... |
47186 | 451700 |
| 14 | Hen eggs, in shell | 42896 | 51720 |
| 15 | Other melon Melon thumb|200px|Various types of melonsThis list of melons includes members of the plant family Cucurbitaceae with edible, fleshy fruit e.g. gourds or cucurbits. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit... s (inc. cantaloupe Cantaloupe "Rockmelon" redirects here, for the band see Rockmelons. See also Cantaloupe .Cantaloupe refers to a variety of Cucumis melo, a species in the family Cucurbitaceae which includes nearly all melons and squashes. Cantaloupes range in size from... s) |
34485 | 187325 |
| 16 | Mango Mango The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While... es, mangosteen Mangosteen The purple mangosteen , colloquially known simply as mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 7 to 25 m tall... s, guava Guava Guavas are plants in the myrtle family genus Psidium , which contains about 100 species of tropical shrubs and small trees. They are native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America... s |
29958 | 50000 |
| 17 | Papaya Papaya The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae... s |
17499 | 61657 |
| 18 | Tomato Tomato The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler... es |
16881 | 45679 |
| 19 | Avocado Avocado The avocado is a tree native to Central Mexico, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel... s |
16142 | 23294 |
| 20 | Palm kernel Palm kernel Many plants and trees like olive, soybean, canola, sunflower and coconut palm produce one type of oil. The fruits of the oil palm tree, however, yields two distinct oils - palm oil and palm kernel oil.... s |
13164 | 51000 |
Land Use
{| class="wikitable"{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Total area || 51 100 km2
|-
| Density of population
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
|| 89.6 persons per km2
|-
|Total area per 1000 population || 11.2 km2 per 1000 population
|-
|Land area || 51 060 km2
|-
| Land area per 1000 population || 11.2 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Land area (percentage of total area) || 99.9 % of total area
|-
| Water surface || 40 km2
|-
| Water surface per 1000 population || 0.0 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Water surface (percentage of total area) || 0.1 % of total area
|-
| Agricultural land || 27 500 km2
|-
| Agricultural land per 1000 population || 6.0 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Agricultural land (percentage of total area) || 53.8 % of total area
|-
| Agricultural land (percentage of land area) || 53.9 % of land area
|-
| Arable
Arable
Arable relates to the growing of crops:* Arable farming or agronomy, the cultivation of field crops* Arable land, land upon which crops are cultivated.* Arable crops program, a consolidated support system operated under the EU Common Agricultural Policy....
land || 2 000 km2
|-
| Arable land per 1000 population || 0.4 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Arable land (percentage of total area) || 3.9 % of total area
|-
| Arable land (percentage of land area) || 3.9 % of land area
|-
| Arable land (percentage of agricultural land) || 7.3 % of agricultural area
|-
| Permanent crop
Crop
Crop may refer to:* Crop, a plant grown and harvested for agricultural use* Crop , part of the alimentary tract of some animals* Crop , a modified whip used in horseback riding or disciplining humans...
s || 3 000 km2
|-
| Permanent crops per 1000 population || 0.7 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Permanent crops (percentage of total area) || 5.9 % of total area
|-
| Permanent crops (percentage of land area) || 5.9 % of land area
|-
| Permanent crops (percentage of agricultural land) || 10.9 % of agricultural area
|-
| Permanent meadow
Meadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...
s and pasture
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
s || 22 500 km2
|-
| Permanent meadows and pastures per 1000 population || 4.9 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Permanent meadows and pastures (percentage of total area) || 44.0 % of total area
|-
| Permanent meadows and pastures (percentage of land area) || 44.1 % of land area
|-
| Permanent meadows and pastures (percentage of agricultural land) || 81.8 % of agricultural area
|-
| Forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
area || 23 970 km2
|-
| Forest area per 1000 population || 5.2 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Forest area (percentage of total area) || 46.9 % of total area
|-
| Forest area (percentage of land area) || 46.9 % of land area
|-
| Other land || -410 km2
|-
| Other land per 1000 population || -0.1 km2 per 1000 population
|-
| Other land (percentage of total area) || -0.8 % of total area
|-
| Other land (percentage of land area) || -0.8 % of land area
|}
Climate
According to the Koppen Climate classificationKöppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
, Costa Rica is considered a tropical
Tropical climate
A tropical climate is a climate of the tropics. In the Köppen climate classification it is a non-arid climate in which all twelve months have mean temperatures above...
/mesothermal
Mesothermal
In climatology, the term mesothermal is used to refer to certain forms of climate found typically in the Earth's Temperate Zones. It has a moderate amount of heat, with winters not cold enough to sustain snow cover...
climate. The country lays at 10° 0' 0" N / 84° 0' 0" W causing year-round tropical weather. Average yearly rainfall varies greatly depending on location and altitude. Costa Rican seasons are actually defined by the amount of rainfall. The seasons are defined as Verano
Verano
Verano can refer to one of the following places in Italy:*the Italian name of Vöran, a commune in South Tyrol.*Verano Brianza, a commune in the province of Milan.*the Verano monumental cemetery in Rome.Verano can also refer to:*Verano...
(which translates to summer) is the 'dry' season and runs from December to May, and Invierno (meaning winter) is the 'wet' season and runs from May to November.
Plantations in Costa Rica
The primary aspect of large-scale/ plantation agriculture is to produce very large quantities of agricultural goods. The more goods produced at such rapid rates, the less expensive the companies have to sell their products for, making them leaders in the world market. For the most part plantations in Costa Rica are monocultureMonoculture
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. It is also known as a way of farming practice of growing large stands of a single species. It is widely used in modern industrial agriculture and its implementation has allowed for large harvests from...
s. These plantations (i.e. Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita) primarily grow bananas, pineapples, sugar, coffee, and ornamental plants. Many crops cultivated through plantation farming are usually genetically modified to improve and hasten growth and increase resistance to pests and diseases. This type of agriculture requires altering and changing much of the landscape. Large sectors of forest are demolished to make way for huge high-yield corporate agricultural fields. This in turn has a major influence on surrounding ecosystems. Many of the methods practiced within these monocultures cause considerable effects on surrounding biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
and human communities. These agricultural fields are one of the primary causes of deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
in Costa Rica. The clearing of forests makes more land open for plantations to harvest mass quantities of crops. Many plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammal populations are drastically declining. As a result of the heavy use of pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s used in plantation farming many domestic flora and fauna are dying off. While some pests, such as the very venomous Fer de lance snake are rapidly multiplying. This is due to the fact that because so much land is cleared the snake species can capture its prey with much more ease, as there is less to hide behind. This along with deforestation then effects the countries biodiversity, which (for a country that is about the size of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
) accounts for 5% of the world's biodiversity.
With such large areas of land to farm, this method of primarily monoculture farming requires the use of heavy machinery. This type of farming is also blamed for much of the countries greenhouse gas emissions. But what makes our food system really unsustainable is "the globalized commodity trade that has resulted in the integration of the food supply chain and its concentration in the hands of a few transnational corporations. This greatly increases the carbon footprint
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...
and energy intensity
Energy intensity
]Energy intensity is a measure of the energy efficiency of a nation's economy. It is calculated as units of energy per unit of GDP.* High energy intensities indicate a high price or cost of converting energy into GDP....
of our food consumption, and at tremendous social and other environmental costs.
Since 1999, the Rodale Institute’s long-term trials in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
have reported that energy use in the conventional system was 200 percent higher than in either of two organic systems - one with animal manure and green manure
Green manure
In agriculture, a green manure is a type of cover crop grown primarily to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil. Typically, a green manure crop is grown for a specific period of time , and then plowed under and incorporated into the soil while green or shortly after flowering...
, the other with green manure only - with very little differences in yields. Research in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
showed that while organic farming
Organic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
used more machine hours than conventional farming, total energy consumption was still lowest in organic systems; that was because in conventional systems, more than half of total energy consumed in rye
Rye
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...
production was spent on the manufacture of pesticides".
Effects on surrounding human communities
Conventional agriculture has put pressure on indigenous customs and traditions. The use of pesticides in Costa Rican agricultural fields has nearly doubled over the past two decades. In 2000, Costa Rica ranked second in world pesticide use . Plantation agriculture was a significant contributor to the runoff and other environmental effects caused by the pesticides because over a third of these agrochemicals are used on banana and plantainPlantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
production. The use of intensive agrochemicals on large plantations make cash crop production to be the most harmful to the surrounding area.
Indigenous tribes lack legislation that would limit agrochemicals, so much of the runoff
Runoff
Run-off or runoff may refer to:* Surface runoff, the flow of water, from rain, snow melt, or other sources, over land* Runoff model , a mathematical model describing the rainfall-runoff relations of a rainfall catchment area or watershed...
affects the rivers used by the Bribri
Bribri
The Bribri are an indigenous tribe from Costa Rica. They live in the Talamanca Canton in Limón Province of Costa Rica. They speak the Bribri language and Spanish. There are varying estimates of the population of the tribe. According to a census by the Ministerio de Salud, there are 11,500 Bribri...
and other indigenous tribes inhabiting Costa Rica.
Effects on biodiversity
Costa Rica’s rainforestRainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
s house 5% of the world’s biodiversity and 26% of them are protected in some way. The advent of genetically modified organisms has become an enormous industry because of the fragile nature of monoculture agribusiness
Agribusiness
In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term for the various businesses involved in food production, including farming and contract farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and distribution, processing, marketing, and retail sales....
of the United States and conventional plantations the Europeans introduced to Costa Rica. When hundreds of acres are deforested and covered with only one type of one plant, the farmer has elevated the potential for blight
Blight
Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. It is simply a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organs. Accordingly, many diseases that primarily exhibit this...
s, insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
infestations, and other disturbances to be disastrous. Nature knows that a diverse community of species not only act as biological controls for each other, but also stabilize the entire area because only some species will be affected by disturbances. Plantation agriculture taken the homes of many biota causing a huge shift in species diversity
Species diversity
Species diversity is an index that incorporates the number of species in an area and also their relative abundance. It is a more comprehensive value than species richness....
. One of the most venomous snakes in Costa Rica, the fer de lance, has actually benefited from this type of agriculture. As land is cleared for agro fields, their prey has fewer places to hide, causing a substantial ease in their hunt. Before plantations began to deforesting, fer de lance survival rate was only about 2%. Today, with increasing rates of deforestation and plantation agriculture their survival rate is somewhere between 60-70%.
Permaculture/ Sustainable Farming
Smaller-scale, sustainableSustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...
agricultural methods are becoming increasingly popular throughout Costa Rica. With the countries declaration to become the first carbon-neutral country by 2021, this is their first step in attaining such a goal. Crop rotation
Crop rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons.Crop rotation confers various benefits to the soil. A traditional element of crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals...
is one of the practices executed by sustainable farmers in Costa Rica. Since many plants are planted together, one major benefit of crop rotation is that each crop has a different harvesting period providing food and income year-round. This method also reduces soil erosion, a major environmental issue in Costa Rica. Instead of using chemicals to prevent pests many of these farmers harvest plants such as lemongrass and citrosa, natural pest repellants. The use of crop rotation, and seasonally changing crops also deters pests that feed on particular individual types crops since that crop is only around for a short period of time. Companion planting is another method employed by sustainable farmers in Costa Rica. For example, planting mint around vegetables helps deter many pests as the aroma is unappealing to them. Planting rue
Rue
Rue is a genus of strongly scented evergreen subshrubs 20–60 cm tall, in the family Rutaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, Macaronesia and southwest Asia. There are perhaps 8 to 40 species in the genus...
helps in detering the Japanese beetle
Japanese beetle
The beetle species Popillia japonica is commonly known as the Japanese beetle. It is about long and wide, with iridescent copper-colored elytra and green thorax and head...
, a major agricultural pest. A newer technology method that sustainable farmers in Costa Rica are beginning to employ is the use of plug-flow anaerobic digesters. These machines are “long, narrow, insulated, and heated tanks made of reinforced concrete, steel or fiberglass with a gas tight cover to capture the biogas
Biogas
Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...
. It is loaded with thick manure of 11 – 14 percent total solids. When the manure reaches the outlet it discharges over an outlet weir arranged to maintain a gas tight atmosphere but still allow the effluent
Effluent
Effluent is an outflowing of water or gas from a natural body of water, or from a human-made structure.Effluent is defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as “wastewater - treated or untreated - that flows out of a treatment plant, sewer, or industrial outfall. Generally refers...
to flow out. Biogas produced by the digester is used to heat the digester to the desired temperature. Excess biogas can be used to run an engine generator. Heat can also be recovered from the engine generator and used for space or floor heating, water heating or steam production to offset the cost of purchased electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
, propane
Propane
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...
, natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
or fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
used on the farm for daily operations”. Leftover manure is then mixed with soil and added to the cropland. Around 18 percent of all greenhouse gas admissions can be attributed to animal agriculture today, therefore employing plug-flow digesters is another step Costa Rican sustainable farmers are taking to reduce green house gas admissions. With more sustainable farming methods employed in Costa Rica, less energy is generally required from the farmer because the agriculture system sustains itself.
Subsistance Farming in Costa Rica
This type of farming is practiced predominately by the indigenous tribes in Costa Rica. The main activity of the BriBri tribe is agriculture. The Limon region (82.8°- 83.3°W, 9.6°- 9.3°N) is one of the main areas indigenous farmers practice subsistence agroforestryAgroforestry
Agroforestry is an integrated approach of using the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock.It combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems.-Definitions:According to...
. These tribes rely on natural growth within the forest as well as small sustainable gardens to produce enough food for a clan to survive on. The Bribri tribe of Talamanaca, reside in the Limon region and cultivate more than 120 wild and domestic crop species providing provisions, building materials, medicine, and trade items for the people. Any food or resources left over are quickly traded for other commodities the clan cannot produce for themselves (i.e. medicine, food, clothes, etc). BriBri Indians implement different agricultural techniques to maintain and enrich their native traditions. Agroforestry, an interactive practice of positioning forest flora amongst crops that have mutualistic relationships is one of these traditions. “They use natural nutrient cycling and symbiotic relationships
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...
between plants, insects, birds, bats, and other animals to provide natural mechanisms for pest control, incorporate soil rejuvenating legume trees, and produce relay harvests throughout the year”. Some other practices these subsistence farmers adhere to include: maintaining their natural resource base, manage pests and diseases through internal regulating mechanisms rather than pestisides and other chemicals, and relying on minimum artificial inputs from outside the farm system. Many of these Costa Rican communities are beginning to the effects of globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
as many plantations are buying up land and invading indigenous areas. Recent government action has led to mitigation of such effects. “On September 12, the Administrative Tribunal of Contention ordered the relevant federal agencies – the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA) and the National Commission of Indigenous Affairs (CONAI) – to expropriate more than 11,000 acres of land to be returned to the Bribri community of the Kekoldi reservation—this part of Bribri territory is currently occupied by non-indigenous people.”