Pánfilo Tabora & Henry Guerrero

Henry Alberto Guerrero Rodriguez

Himself a farmer in central Costa Rica he organized the association of organic producers of Alfaro Ruiz. At present he is the president of APODAR (Asociación de Productores Orgánicos de Alfaro Ruiz).

Presentation
Saturday, September 9th, 2006 / 15:00 - 15:20

Yields and Quality of Costa Rican organic vegetables – Impact of EM Technology

Henry Guerrero
President of APODAR (Asociación de Productores Orgánicos de Alfaro Ruiz),
75 metros NorOeste de Escuela Tapezco de Alfaro Ruiz
Alajuela, Costa Rica, apodar@racsa.co.cr

Pánfilo Tabora
Profesor, EARTH University
Mercedes de Guacimo, Limón, Costa Rica, ptabora@earth.ac.cr

The production of organic vegetables in Costa Rica was initiated in 1988, with a few farmers in the highlands of Zarcero. At the inception and in early years, the progress was slow and farmers faced losses due to the lack of suitable techniques. The stability of this process was observed after a few years, although the techniques used were traditional, and productivity was very low, often leadining to loss of incomes.

The introduction of the technology of Effective Microorgansms (EM) via the EARTH University in Costa Rica in 1996, paved the way to develop a successful method for organic vegetable production. EM Bokashi became the base for organic vegetable production, and this material made with available organic mater was used by 50 farmers. The results were remarkable, where both yields and quality of the vegetables were enhanced to levels comparable to those produced from conventional chemical farming systems. Further improvements to using EM were the introduction of EM bioferments and other similar products, which were blended with confidence into organic vegetable production programs. At present, the use of EM based material has spread even to non organic veetable farming systems, and a successful program of producing quality vegetables is underway with EM technology. The success achived and the processes are highlighted in this presentation.

Keywords: Organic vegetables, EM Technology, Costa Rica, Yields, Quality