Costa Rica's outward-looking development: from ‘Agriculture of Change’ to food insecurity (1990-2008)

Costa Rica has been a great example of the neoliberal approach to agricultural policy implemented during the last two decades in most Latin American countries. Costa Rica shifted from import substitution industrialisation (ISI) to export-led growth and what the government and international organisations called ‘Agriculture of Change’ in the early 1980s. A combination of an active state, stable democracy, high social investment and support for small and medium firms, including cooperatives, resulted in higher economic growth and better gender and income distribution than in neighbouring countries. Since 1990, Costa Rica accelerated trade liberalisation, foreign direct investment (FDI), and non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAEs) through agricultural conversion programmes. Since the early 1990s new patterns of agricultural development have promoted the regional specialisation of agricultural production. The new strategy shaped agriculture and rural development in different regions and cantons creating opportunities and challenges for small famers and rural inhabitants.