RIO SIXAOLA IS A BANANA FARM in Costa Rica one of the first two Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in the world. It contains the only intact mangrove swamp on the Atlantic coast, and La Amistad International Park, a World Heritage site that protects the largest area of undisturbed highland watersheds and forests in southern Central America. It is an internationally renowned model of sustainability.
“Early in its sustainability journey, the farm embraced farming techniques that protect water—like manually weeding instead of using harmful herbicides, filling irrigation canals with vegetation that filters out sediment and impurities, and reforesting the banks of the tributaries that run directly into the ocean.
Selective manual weeding, rather than toxic herbicide use, also allows ground cover to nourish the soil and help it retain moisture.
Río Sixaola is already 100 percent carbon-neutral, and its goal is to have a total of 70,000 trees that provide refuge and food to local fauna, including 72 different native and endangered animal species he monitors with hidden cameras.”
The above is taken from the article “Producing Biodiversity” on a Costa Rican Banana Farm” on the Rainforest Alliance website.
Te read the entire article, click HERE.
Selective manual weeding, rather than toxic herbicide use, allows ground cover to nourish the soil and help it retain moisture. Click To Tweet
Cartoon by Patrick Chappatte for The New York Times.
