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Best Management Practices for Agricultural Non-Point Sources of Pollution | |
| Caribbean Environment Programme Technical Report #41 1998 | All CEP Technical Reports |
EARTH SchoolDuring the week of November 17, 1997, site visits were conducted in Costa Rica to observe some of the agricultural best management practices (BMPs) being implemented in tropical climates. Four operations were observed, and the site visits are summarized below.
The Escuela de Agricultura de la Region Tropical Humida (EARTH School) is a private, nonprofit 4-year higher educational facility in the eastern coastal plain section of Costa Rica. It was started in 1990. The majority of the students are from countries throughout Latin America and attend on scholarships. Upon graduation, the students return to their countries and implement what they have learned at the EARTH School.
Direccion de Investigation y Extension de al Caņa de Azucar (DIECA)A small banana plantation where students and faculty are researching different pesticide uses, cultivation practices, harvesting methods, and packing methods was observed. The EARTH School is also conducting research on ways to control and recycle the solid waste from banana plantations. Traditionally, banana plantation have produced large volumes of solid waste. Plastic bags are placed over each banana raceme, and trees are supported with plastic twine. The plastics and the stems from banana stalks are traditionally discarded in the fields and left to wash into streams, which eventually flow to coastal waters. The bags and twine can be recycled. The "field waste" (leaf cuttings, prunings, etc.) can be left on the ground near the banana plants to help control erosion and keep weeds from growing, and the banana stems can be recycled into paper.
(Sugarcane Extension Center)
DIECA is doing extensive research in biological pest control for sugarcane. One of the biggest threats to the sugarcane crop is nematodes. DIECA is doing research on ways to control nematodes and other pests using a species of wasp that preys on the nematodes during a portion of their life cycle. By using biological pest controls, the need for chemical pesticides is reduced. In addition, DIECA conducts outreach activities for farmers and schoolchildren, helping them to understand the value of the land and the need for using environmentally sound farming practices. DIECA is working with farmers on implementing ways to control erosion from the sugarcane fields.
Chiquita Banana Plantation
Hacienda Juan ViņasChiquita Brands International is working with the Rainforest Alliance to implement the Better Bananas program. (See Section 5.1.) During a tour of a Chiquita-owned plantation, observers saw how bananas are cultivated and how Chiquita is implementing the Better Bananas program. A common nonpoint source pollution problem with banana plantations has been the amount of solid waste produced. The plastic bags and twine used in banana cultivation and harvest traditionally had been left in the field, from which they washed away into rivers and out to coastal waters. Chiquita is recycling the plastics and making a variety of products, such as packaging and shipping materials and "bricks" for walkways in the plantation to prevent erosion. In the past, waste bananas and crop residue were thrown into canals and streams, leading to high biological oxygen demand and other water quality problems. During the tour, observers saw a landfill that Chiquita has constructed to compost organic waste to help prevent water quality degradation. Chiquita is also actively vegetating the banks of the drainage canals and the plantation floor to help prevent erosion and increased suspended solids loadings to streams, rivers, and coastal waters.
Hacienda Juan Viņas is a large plantation in east-central Costa Rica. Because of the different crops growing and harvesting cycles, the farm produces both coffee and sugar. The BMPs and other measures being used by Juan Viņas include the following:
Using fertilizers that the plantation produces from organic waste material, such as the shells of coffee beans. These are mixed with poultry guano and some inorganic fertilizers and used on the farm as well as sold to other farmers in the area.
Planting fast-growing vegetation along unstable banks to help prevent erosion.
Constructing an upgraded wastewater treatment plant for the sugar processing operation.
Leaving natural vegetative buffers along waterways and along very steep slopes.
Planting shade trees in portions of the coffee fields. Although this is done primarily to enhance the flavor of the coffee, it also provides additional habitat.
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