Rolando Tencio Camacho, an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, said that the work being done by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) to promote the use of bio-inputs in agricultural production could reduce costs by up to 60% without affecting yields.
As part of the process, the MAG trains producers in innovative organic and sustainable production techniques, using the Mountain Microorganisms (MM), such as forest land, insect repelling plants, crop residues and animal dung, among other things, as their main input to avoid the use of agrochemicals. In addition, they elaborated a Bioinputs Technical Guide for producers.
As a result of these trainings and the changes that producers have implemented, the Municipality of Cartago was awarded the MAG Environmental Award in 2015. In addition, the RedLAOPS (Latin American Network of Sustainable Production and Organic Agriculture) created a free information website where producers can see videos, tutorials, and training images.
Nearly 768 people from various countries of the world, representatives of 72 governments, 350 non-state organizations, and representatives of 6 agencies of the United Nations participated in the event. The goal of the Symposium was to initiate a debate on the contribution of Ecological Agriculture to food security, the improvement of nutrition and sustainable agriculture and on how it can help countries to meet their commitments on sustainable development, climate change, and biological diversity.
Costa Rica shared its experience together with other countries, such as Iran, Zambia, China, India, Ecuador, Hungary, Italy, France, Senegal, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, and Switzerland.