Costa Rica’s coffee sector to receive $2 million to improve farming practices

A plan developed jointly by four government agencies along with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) will implement a series of measures for 36 months to grow coffee more efficiently and with less impact on the atmosphere. The measures also could help bring more profits.

A total of $2 million will directly benefit 800 small farmers and three local processing centers.

The plan focuses on producing coffee with a better use of fertilizers to generate lower emissions of greenhouse gases. Producers and exporters will gain better technology and more technical support.

The “Project for the Promotion of Green Growth and Low Carbon in Costa Rica’s Coffee Sector” will launch with small test plans to allow experts to determine which technologies are best suited for the country’s weather conditions. Experts then will make specific recommendations to coffee producers.

The IADB’s Multilateral Investment Fund will finance the project with $1.2 million, while Costa Rica’s Agriculture and Livestock Ministry, the Environment Ministry, the Costa Rican Coffee Institute and the Cooperative Fund for Sustainable Development will provide the remaining funds.

One of the main components is to encourage the planting of lines of coffee bushes along with shade trees. Coffee drying ovens will be upgraded to make them more energy efficient.

Cooperative Fund for Sustainable Development Executive Director Marianella Feoli said the project will benefit the entire coffee sector by increasing competitiveness on Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA) and by helping to curb climate change.

As a NAMA country, Costa Rica will be eligible to receive financial support from the NAMA Facility, an international climate change mitigation program sponsored by the governments of Germany and England.