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the biggest challenges since the late 1990s. During the past seven years, however, there has been a
more active involvement from the public sector, as well as more openness to develop alliances among
the different sectors involved, which has brought about a considerably stronger organic movement, in
which the Government is one of the actors along with the other stakeholders.
Regulation, standards and conformity assessment
The national organic guarantee system is managed by the Technical Office for Accreditation and
Registry of Organic Agriculture (GTARAO). The main functions performed by GTARAO are: (a)
accrediting the certification bodies; (b) keeping a registry of certification bodies, inspectors, certified
farmers, processors and others; and (c) supervising and auditing the whole system. To do this,
GTARAO bases its work on the national legislation included in the following laws and regulations:
Environmental Law No. 7554 of 1995; Phytosanitary Protection Law No. 7664 of 1997 and its
Regulation; and the national standards for organic production contained in the Organic Agriculture
Regulation Decree No. 29782 of 2001
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. Compliance with ISO 65 procedures is required for
accreditation.
Costa Rica was included in the “third country list” of the European Union in March 2003. It is
approved by Switzerland for organic imports. The processes for equivalency recognition from the
United States and Japan have been initiated.
Currently, there are two national certification bodies (EcoLogica and AIMCOPOP) and four
international ones (BCS Oko Garantie, OCIA, Ecocert and SKAL) accredited by GTARAO.
Certification bodies have to comply with the national standards as a baseline but are also allowed to
certify to more stringent standards. Considering the number of clients, EcoLogica is the main
certification body, controlling around 65 per cent of the clients. EcoLogica and BCS are the only ones
accredited by the Government for EU export purposes and all of them, except AIMCOPOP, have
obtained the United States’ NOP accreditation. A national seal to back up all nationally accredited
certification has been developed by GTARAO and it may be used by farmers and exporters, at no
charge. It is not yet widely recognized.
For the domestic market, certification in compliance with the national standards is mandatory and can
be performed by any of the accredited certification bodies. In Costa Rica, most certification of small
and medium-scale organized farmers is organized through group certification
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. This is about the only
feasible option for small farmers in terms of costs but, even so, this is not always a “low-cost” option,
since many indirect costs, such as training and management of the internal control system, are added
to the direct costs, which are often too high, especially if the group is small. As an example of direct
costs, if EcoLogica certifies a group of 1,000 farmers, each one will have to pay approximately
US$ 10, but if the group consists of only 10 farmers, each one will pay approximately US$ 150 and,
in addition, both groups would have to pay 0.25 per cent of the gross farm sales per year.
Other options, such as participatory guarantee systems, are currently being developed by a committee
involving members of MAOCO and farmers in a couple of regions.
Agriculture policy
General
Pesticides have been taxed in Costa Rica for many years, and the income from these taxes supports a
large portion of the Ministry of Agriculture’s budget for Phytosanitary Protection Direction. With
regards to GMOs, national policies are rather cautious and express some concern about the possible
adverse impacts on biodiversity, the environment and health. In practice, though, the mechanisms for
the development of GMO-related activities (research, environmental liberation, seed production,
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This decree modifies No. 25834 of 1997 and 29067 of 2000.
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Where farmers are organized in groups with internal control systems.
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marketing, etc.) are being set up by the Technical Office of Biotechnology of the Phytosanitary
Protection Direction.
The main document containing the current agricultural policies is called “Políticas para el Sector
Agropecuario Costarricense 2002-2006” (Policies for Costa Rican Farming Sector 2002-2006), and it
contains a wide range of policies oriented to support the development of four priority areas: (a)
strengthening competitiveness of the farming sector; (b) development of human capacities and
opportunities for agriculture and the rural areas; (c) agriculture in harmony with the environment; and
(d) modernization of institutional services.
Organic agriculture policies and programmes
With the above policy, for the first time, official agricultural policies include several actions to
promote and support the development of organic agriculture, which are contained in the chapter about
agriculture in harmony with the environment. Some of these include promotion of indigenous farming
practices, agro-biodiversity protection and enhancement, discouragement of contaminant pesticides
use, promotion of native seed production, support for certification alternatives and support for
conversion of production. In practice, the implementation of these general policies has been limited
by the scarce resources available in the public sector.
Governmental organic agriculture policies and programmes are mainly promoted by the National
Organic Agriculture Programme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (PNAO). This is a
coordination office whose main objective is to support and promote production, processing,
international trade and local marketing of organic products. PNAO, with a small central staff and
budget and eight regional organic agriculture coordinators from the national extension programme,
develops diagnostic activities at the national level, in order to identify organic farmers’ needs. It
coordinates with both public and private institutions, as well as with the financial and technical
cooperation organizations that support agriculture, to see that organic farmers have access to at least
the same services as conventional farmers.
Since 1999, some of the most important tasks carried out by PNAO have been to support and
strengthen the national organic movement (MAOCO) and to develop awareness both within
governmental structures and the general public, and to promote policy development. As a result of
these efforts, the official national agricultural policies now include organic agriculture as a priority
issue, and MAOCO is currently recognized by both Government and media as the main reference
with regards to organic agriculture development interests.
Table 6. Overview of governmental programmes for organic
Item
Government policy and programmes
General awareness of merits of
organic
PNAO develops and distributes materials, articles, presentations and
reports for both government decision-makers and the media. Training
workshops for the national media have been organized.
Organic regulations, standards and
certification
A national guarantee system has been established and is successfully
managed by GTARAO.
Domestic market
PNAO coordinates actions with both supermarkets and farmers’
markets to assist in the inclusion of new suppliers to these markets.
There is also substantial financial support for promotion activities
such as national fairs and festivals.
Export market
Both PROCOMER (national export promotion office) and PNAO
support participation of organic farmers at Biofach.
Food processing
The National Production Council (CNP) in alliance with researchers
from the Centre for Food Technology Research (CITA) of the
University of Costa Rica support organic farmers in the development
of simple food processing methods.
Production
Information on organic farming methods is available through PNAO
and its organic agriculture coordinators nationwide.
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Item
Government policy and programmes
A programme called Programme for the Promotion of Sustainable
Agriculture Production (PFPAS), which involves a US$ 14 million
fund from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and MAG for
credit incentives, training and studies, for both sustainable and organic
agriculture, has recently been approved by the national congress.
Inputs (seeds, seedlings, pest control
and fertilizers)
Technical assistance on natural pest control is available at the
laboratory of biological control of INTA, as well as at INA.
PNAO provides information on biological control methods and
organic fertilizers.
PNAO supports the development of local farmers’ seed exchange
networks.
Research
Some small research projects have been developed by INTA. PITTA-
P.O. promotes small farmers experimentation exchange activities.
Extension service
PNAO has supported the training of a group of approximately 25
extension workers on organic agriculture methods. Some of them
provide technical assistance and training for small farmers and other
colleagues.
Other
Through an alliance among the Ministries of Agriculture, Education
and Health, a programme for the inclusion of organic agriculture
teaching and the establishment of organic horticulture gardens in
schools has been put into practice during the past three years.
Other policy influences, projects and programmes
The international cooperation sector in general, and specifically through NGOs such as VECO
(Belgium) or HIVOS (The Netherlands) or United Nations programmes such as the Small Donations
Programme of the United Nations Development Programme Global Environment Facility (UNDP-
GEF), support projects for small farmers’ associations, NGOs and more recently for MAOCO’s
organizational strengthening process. The Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation
(IICA) has provided technical support on information and organizational activities. At the national
level, the Catholic Church’s social and environmental programme (Pastoral Social) conducts training,
produces information materials and supports community-based networking activities in different parts
of the country. Within the national financial sector, the Banco Popular, a state bank, has recently
developed an alliance with MAOCO to develop financial products that are adjusted to the organic
sector’s needs.
The policy development process for organic agriculture
In the process of organic agriculture government policy development in Costa Rica, there have been
both “internal” and “external” driving forces working together. The internal forces were mainly the
staff of the National Organic Agriculture Programme, which since 1999 could count on political
support from the highest level and a few allies within the public sector (mainly some agricultural
professionals and extension workers who were interested in organic agriculture at a personal level).
The external forces came from NGOs, farmers’ groups and the international cooperation sector, which
were willing to develop an informal alliance with PNAO in order to work together towards common
goals and proposals.
A group of NGOs, farmers’ associations, and representatives from the public sector, with the support
of the international cooperation, carried out a consultation process to develop a long-term concerted
action plan, both at the regional and national levels, resulting in the National Strategy for Organic
Agriculture Promotion. This process, in which over 1,500 farmers of some 50 organizations around
the country participated, was the basis for the construction of MAOCO. This umbrella organization
has been able to influence regional and national policies. MAOCO has also carried out a participatory
process for the drafting of an act for the support and promotion of organic agriculture, which is
currently being discussed at the National Legislative Assembly.
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What developing country Governments can do to promote the organic agriculture sector
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The action plan proposed alliances between public and private institutions to try to solve the main
limitations identified. In terms of implementation, some of the main activities in this action plan,
under the coordination of PNAO, include:
1. Development and facilitation of general information for decision-makers through printed
materials, presentations and a Web page;
2. Strengthening of PNAO by appointing regional coordinators and the inclusion of organic in
government priorities and planning processes;
3. Support of research, experimentation and technology transfer through the establishment of
PITTA-P.O.;
4. Promotion through media, meetings with decision-makers and activities with consumers;
5. Support of MAOCO and the national strategy development process;
6. Support of regional production projects through coordination with national and international
cooperation agencies;
7. Development of organic agriculture in schools initiative; and
8.
Support
of participation at Biofach, Germany.
Opportunities and challenges
Some of the most interesting opportunities for organic agriculture development in Costa Rica also
present the main challenges. Two of these opportunities and challenges are to be able to take
advantage of the international recognition of the national organic guarantee system, in order to enter
more international markets; and to take advantage of the rapid growth of the national market, in order
to promote local marketing of organic products.
The challenge is to develop the proper conditions to increase the current production. This, of course,
is related to other challenges such as strengthening the extension services’ technical capacity,
developing appropriate financial products and incentives, strengthening small and medium-sized
farmers’ organizations and finding effective solutions to support farmers during the conversion
period. In general, policies put in place, as well as those currently being proposed by MAOCO, seem
to be oriented in the right direction. The main constraint seems to be the lack of available human and
financial resources, which hinders a full implementation of the policies at the rapid and constant pace
which is needed.
Lessons learned
Although some investment has been made by the public, private and international cooperation sectors
for the development of policies to support organic agriculture in Costa Rica (especially for the
implementation of the organic guarantee system and more recently for the strengthening of MAOCO),
to this date, the achievements in organic policy development have been mainly the result of public-
private alliances rather than of any heavily funded policy development project. The process for policy
development might take more time but it is certainly more participatory and concerted. Most
interested actors have participated in the processes and, therefore, are willing to defend and back up
these policies, which should give sustainability and stability to the proposals as well as to the related
organizational processes. This is especially important in the case of organic agricultural policy
development, since it first developed in the private sector and many are concerned that if
Governments get involved, the original orientation and goals will be lost. The policy development
process in Costa Rica shows that this does not necessarily have to be the case, as long as the right
alliances can be developed between the public and private sector actors and the process for policy
development is given enough time to facilitate a transparent and widely participatory approach.
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Best Practices for Organic Policy
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Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
