SUSTAINABLE COFFEE IN COSTA RICA

Perhaps the most important aspect of coffee production is the least obvious. While offering a profitable crop to the country workers for more than two centuries, the coffee production in Costa Rica has contributed significantly to their prosperity in the production zones and halted migration to the cities.

Agricultural production

In general terms, Costa Rican coffee plantations do not use insecticides; underbrush control is done with a mix of chemicals and manual labor. The use of chemicals is carried out in a reasonable way from plant to plant and not by air. In fact, unlike other crops, no water has been found contaminated by the use of agrochemicals used in the cultivation of coffee.

Costa Rica is less intensive with respect to fertilization. The normal use is two whole formula applications (18 N 2 P-15K) equivalent to 715 kg/Ha. (637 lbs/acre), complemented with an application of a nitrogen source (NH4NO3) of 285 kg/Ha (254 lbs/acre).

The majority of Costa Rican coffee fields operate under intermittent shade. This has various positive effects: the decomposition of leaves returns abundant organic matter to the soil; additionally, on the steep-sloped plantations they contribute to reduced erosion. The coffee fields constitute, after natural forests, the second most important “forest” in Costa Rica, contributing to the conservation of the hydrographic valley and a clean environment.

In fact, according to studies by Dr. Fournier Origgi, a biologist from the University of Costa Rica, two hectares (4.95 acres) of coffee eliminates as much carbon dioxide from the air as one hectare (2.471 acres) of virgin rain forest.

The coffee plant process:

It is inevitable that the coffee plant milling produces waste. In order to produce 46 kg (100 lbs) of pure coffee, it is necessary to process between 5 to 6 times its weight in fruit form.

To avoid any kind of contamination, in 1992 the Costa Rican Coffee Institute, together with the Health Ministry, the Costa Rican Water and Sewer Service, and the National Electricity Service, drew up an Inter-institutional Agreement that outlined a program of industrial change in wet processing, which has cost the sector more than $100 million dollars.

Since the 1996/97 harvest, the Costa Rican processing plants have made these changes as a requirement to operate. Among them are the following: the filtering of water to eliminate rejected fruit pulp, the recirculation of water in order to reduce the quantity of water used, the de-pulping and transportation of the pulp without water to reduce the contamination and the primary treatment of residual water in depositories. The primary purpose of this alternative flow design is to eliminate, as much as possible, contact of the pulp with the water.

The use of water is retained only for the washing and transportation of the bean once separated from the pulp. The pulp from leftover waste is used as an organic fertilizer. The shell, known as the parchment, is burned to generate energy required for the drying process of the bean.

Costa Rican sustainable coffee is produced on plantations with high biological diversity and low application of agrochemicals. It conserves resources, protects the environment, is produced efficiently and is commercially competitive, and re-enforces the quality of life of the agriculturists and society as a whole.

When coffee production is sustainable, the coffee plantations conserve the ecosystems and the wildlife; various species of trees provide shade, which, after their arrangement, provide 20%-50% shade depending on the zone where the plantation is located.

In order to conserve soil, measures are taken that prevent erosion like surrounding it with sown land, sloped trenches, vegetative barriers, awnings, etc.

With respect to handling underbrush, the soil retains a certain amount of underbrush for its protection. It is done by machete and, when the use of herbicides is justified, those with the lowest toxicity levels to humans are selected, which become weaker in the soil and are slow acting, like glysophate.

A soil analysis is made for the fertilization that shows the most suitable fertilizer at the least possible quantity and preferably with organic fertilizer.

In order to control diseases, fungicides are selected along with the most appropriate levels and, when possible, they are only applied to affected areas.

When infestations are controlled properly, there is a great diversity of insects in the coffee fields. Some are harmful while others that maintain a natural equilibrium are beneficial and could be negatively affected by any unsound methods.

The harvest is very important to the quality of the coffee, since it is the culmination of the total production process. The fruit must be collected at the ideal maturation point, not over ripe, nor half-ripe, nor unripe, without impurities and sent to the processing plant the same day of the harvesting.

In order to guarantee that the product that arrives to the consumer complies with the distinguishing features of this coffee type, it must be properly documented. That’s why the SEAL OF SUSTAINABLE COFFEE was created through the Executive Decree 30938 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, MAG.

The Accredited Technical Management and the Register of Organic Agriculture of MAG certification and the Costa Rican Coffee Institute, ICAFE, are in charge of the inspections. There is no cost to the coffee grower for certification.

Varieties: The search for and selection of soil that is infection resistant as a strategy for reducing the application of agricultural inputs and for selecting matter resistant to other diseases that are not yet present in our coffee culture.

Management systems: research regarding the relationship of coffee with harvestable species to determine the economic co-existence of both species. Research has been done regarding the relation of fruit orchards with economic potential, production systems using small levels of chemical inputs with organic production systems, with the goal of offering the producer a production curve with the various options.

Fertilization: the use of decomposed coffee tree underbrush has increased as a source of organic fertilizer; research done for more than eight year shows the benefits of using underbrush, alone or in part with chemical fertilizer.

The use of plant processing by-products: the uses of worm castings as a source of food for fish and livestock and the use of biogas in anaerobic reactors are some of the uses that are being developed among coffee producers as a means of eliminating contamination that the processing plant generates.

Treatment of residual water: thanks to research, the industrial plant has undergone a series of changes. In recent years, the coffee plant processors have put measures in place such as dry grinding, recycling water, removal of the dry coffee pulp, sifters to catch solids and thick particles and final water treatment used in the transportation and washing of the coffee.

With the changes in the milling plants like less water consumption and next to no contact of the coffee pulp with the liquid, it is guaranteed that residual waters will not be a factor in the contamination of rivers.

Political actions: there are inter-institutional agreements within the coffee sector, as well as health entities and ministries, that demand high standards be met for residual water removal used in processing plants, through which all plants must have final water treatment and use the least quantity possible throughout the process.

There has also been great concern for conservation, care, and rational use of natural resources. 31.2% of the national area is under protected forest reserve areas in comparison with the almost 100,000 hectares (247,100 acres) under coffee production, which represent around 1.96% of the total area of the country.

The National Commission on Organic Agriculture was created by law, which promotes crop production using the least amount of agrochemicals. The Costa Rican Coffee Institute, in 1996, agreed to register separately the production and sales of organic coffee in order to have control over this type of production and continue promoting its operation.

Based on this, the Cooperation Agreement with the Association of Organic Agriculture was signed in order to develop joint research plans and share technology among producers interested in these types of crops.