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Costa
Rican
Famers
Beat
Climate
Change
by
Protecting
Soil
Farmers
toiling
the
slopes
of
Costa
Rica’s
Irazú
volcano
are
using
electric
fences,
improved
pastures
and
practising
‘contour
farming’
—
planting
crops
across
the
slope
— in
their
efforts
to
fight
soil
erosion
and
conserve
water
in a
region
that
experts
have
declared
is
“highly
vulnerable”
to
climate
change.
“Soil
erosion
limits
[farmers’]
ability
to
reduce
soil
loss
and,
at
the
same
time,
can
increase
their
demand
on
fertilizers
and
pesticides
to
compensate
for
degraded
fertility,”
warned
Raffaele
Vignola
of
Costa
Rica’s
Climate
Change
and
Watershed
Program
(CATIE)
and
co-author
of a
study
by
the
Center
for
International
Forestry
Research.
“Although
some
farmers
are
already
using
soil
conservation
practices,
more
understanding
is
needed
to
get
them
self-motivated
in
adopting
such
techniques,
as a
means
of
sustaining
long-term
food
production.”
The
volcanic
soil
of
Irazú
feeds
nearly
half
of
Costa
Rica’s
domestic
demand
for
potatoes
and
vegetables.
However
the
naturally
sloping
terrain
is
also
exposed
to
extreme
weather
conditions,
such
as
extreme
rainfall,
which
exacerbates
soil
erosion.
High
water
runoff
can
trigger
the
loss
of
the
most
fertile
top
part
of
soils
and
thus
lessen
its
productivity
in
upstream
areas,
while
the
subsequent
flow
of
sediment
downstream
can
pollute
the
water
table
as
well
as
affect
drinking
water
quality.
The
current
situation
in
Costa
Rica
is
already
tenuous.
According
to
Vignola,
extreme
rain
has
“significantly”
increased
in
intensity
and
frequency,
and
experts
predict
it
will
likely
worsen
in
the
future
— a
particularly
worrying
prospect
for
an
area
where
the
unsustainable
use
of
marginal
lands
is
widespread.
Fuelling
concerns
are
estimations
by
the
Costa
Rican
Ministry
of
Environment
which
show
that
reduced
soil
fertility
and
soil
erosion
caused
a
7.7
percent
drop
in
the
nation’s
agricultural
Gross
Domestic
Product
from
1970
to
1989.
However
there
are
a
number
of
strategies
available
to
farmers
in
Costa
Rica
to
help
reduce
the
negative
impacts
of
agriculture
on
soil.
Contour
farming,
the
practice
of
tilling
sloped
land
along
lines
of
consistent
elevation
by
creating
furrows,
crop
rows,
and
wheel
tracks
across
slopes,
helps
reduce
the
speed
of
water
running
downstream
thus
reducing
its
power
to
remove
soil
particles.
This
method
also
sees
crop
rows
acting
as
reservoirs
to
catch
and
retain
rainwater,
thus
permitting
increased
infiltration
and
more
uniform
distribution
of
the
water.
Electric
fences
can
also
make
soils
less
susceptible
to
erosion
by
helping
them
control
livestock
movement
thus
regulating
the
weight
charge
that
can
compact
soils.
While
many
farmers
are
already
utilizing
these
methods,
Vignola
and
the
other
scientists
stress
the
urgency
of
getting
more
people
to
adopt
soil
conservation
methods.
Despite
some
help
from
the
government
and
private
sector,
more
than
70
percent
of
those
interviewed
as
part
of
the
study
admitted
to
not
being
involved
in
conservation
programs.
But
pushing
the
adoption
of
better
soil
management
practices
is
easier
said
than
done.
According
to
the
study’s
results,
farmers
in
the
Birris
watershed
showed
little
awareness
of
the
risks
posed
by
the
extremes
of
climate
change
on
their
soil,
but
were
greatly
concerned
by
the
impact
of
human
activities
(i.e.
agriculture
and
dairy
cattle
farming).
In
spite
of
their
anxieties,
farmers
with
a
higher
perception
of
the
risks
were
also
those
who
were
less
likely
to
adopt
conservation
efforts.
This,
the
scientists
believe,
comes
down
to a
limited
understanding
of
the
consequences
of
their
agricultural
activities
with
daily
exposure
to
erosion
possibly
giving
the
“illusion
of
control
and/or
smaller
losses”.
Some,
the
study
said,
were
also
deterred
by
fears
of
high
implementation
costs,
especially
for
those
harvesting
smaller
farmlands
where
a
greater
proportion
of
productive
farmland
might
have
to
be
dedicated
to
conservation.
“Perception
of
the
problem
is
common,
[and]
the
ability
to
address
it
is a
function
mainly
of
technical
assistance,”
Vignola
said.
As
such,
the
study
argues
that
soil
conservation
programs
should
be
strengthened
to
promote
a
better
understanding
of
the
causes,
the
consequences
(on-site
and
off-site)
and
the
limitation
of
soils
and
technological
solutions
in
preventing
erosion.
It
also
advocates
that
technical
assistance
programs
could
help
farmers
improve
their
understanding
of
erosion
causes
which
could,
in
turn,
improve
their
chances
of
adoption.
“Education
is
related
to
knowledge
of
consequences
of
soil
management
practices
and
of
alternative
solutions,
which
in
turn
can
influence
behaviour,”
Vignola
said.
by:
Maya
Thatcher,
Forests
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