Costa Rica

Phase VI – Year 1 of Implementation and Monitoring

Project overview

Number of participating farmers	Project area (hectares)	Annual SOC sequestration potential (tCO2e)
40	500	872

Implementing Institution	Cooperativa Dos Pinos, Instituto del Café de Costa Rica Instituto Nacional de Innovación y Transferencia en Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) FAO Representation in Costa Rica FAO - GSP Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento Forestal (FONAFIFO) Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería de Costa Rica SCALA UNDP – Costa Rica Universidad de Costa Rica
Project name	RECSOIL Costa Rica
Target area for scale-up	400 farmers, 14 000 hectares
Main Crops	Dairy (livestock, cattle); Coffee

Soil management:

Soil threats addressed

Soil erosion
Soil compaction
Nutrient imbalances
Soil organic carbon / soil organic matter loss

SSM practices implemented

Soil organic cover (e.g. cover cropping, organic mulch…)
Crop diversification (e.g. crop rotation, intercropping…)
Organic matter additions (e.g. manure additions, green manure, compost application, residue management…)
Chemical and mineral additions (e.g. fertilizer management, mineral fertilization, fertigation)
Integrated nutrient management (e.g. fertilizer management, mineral fertilization, fertigation…)
Erosion control (e.g terracing, shelterbelts, hedges, and buffer strips
Irrigation management (i.e. drip irrigation, hand-moved sprinkler, permanent sprinkler…)
Water management (e.g. water harvesting, drainage, land shaping and levelling, soil moisture assessment…)
Grazing management (e.g. improved pasture management, grazing exclusion and rotational grazing, pastoralism…)
Integrated systems (e.g. agroforestry, sylvopastoral systems, syntropic agriculture, permaculture, agropisciculture, saline agriculture…)
Farming approaches (e.g. regenerative agriculture, precision agriculture, family agriculture, organic agriculture…)

Soil analysis

Number of samples taken	360
Soil indicators analysed and SOPs used	Total carbon – dry combustion Total Nitrogen - Kjeldahl Soil respiration – respirometer Bulk density – cylinder pH – pH meter EC - conductimeter Percent C - calculation Percent N - calculation B S CEC (Na, Mg, K, Ca) – atomic adsorption Bases N-NH4+ - colorimeter N-NO3- - colorimeter

Trainings and workshops conducted

“RECSOIL: Introduction to the process and main soil threats” and “RECSOIL technical training: stratification of the project area, definition of sampling design and density” – virtual - Spanish - 27-31 March 2023. Participants were trained on the RECSOIL tools and methodology.

“State of Soil Health: FAO initiatives and the Global Soil Partnership in Costa Rica” - in person -Spanish - 24 April 2023 -76 participants. Participants were introduced to soil health considerations in Costa Rica and to the RECSOIL and Soil Doctors Programmes.

“Soil Doctors: training of trainers” - in person -Spanish - 24 April 2023 - 31 participants. Participants were trained on how to equip farmers with the capacity to evaluate and address the presence of soil threats.

“RECSOIL Baseline Determinations”- in person -Spanish - 25 April 2023 - 30 participants. Participants were trained on how to design a sampling plan using spatial data and analyse soil according to the RECSOIL methodology.

“Representative Environments and Practices” - in person - Spanish - 26 April 2023. Participants engaged in identification of main soil threats and sustainable soil management interventions for the RECSOIL pilot project.

“RECSOIL baseline feedback workshop” - in person – Spanish – 26 February – 2 March 2024. Technicians and project stakeholders gathered to review baseline results and finalize sustainable soil management practices for implementation. photogallery | article