In response to a request from the country’s authorities, the Country Office en Costa Rica of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAOCR) has contributed to improving and strengthening the marketing services provided by the State to small and medium-scale farmers in Costa Rica. In particular, FAOCR has focused on the services provided to farmers by the National Production Council (CNP), an institution under the stewardship of the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. It is in this context that FAO has supported, among other initiatives, the improvement of the Institutional Food Supply Program (PAI, acronym in Spanish), administered by the CNP. The PAI is responsible for supplying public entities with food products of agricultural, agro-industrial, aquaculture and fishing origin. Since 2008, public entities have been obliged to source food products through the PAI, which, in turn, must be supplied with national products from small and medium-scale producers.

Through the improvement of marketing services and the institutional capacities of the CNP, currently chaired by the head of the Regional Network of Public Food Supply and Marketing Systems (SPAA), FAO has helped to strengthen the PAI, which has tripled its sales in the last six years. Today, the PAI generates nearly 24 000 jobs, partners with 273 agribusinesses that supply raw materials for food processing and has sales totalling USD 112.1 million, accounting for 41 percent of the country’s public food purchases.