Grains are a principle part of the Central American Diet.

To help staunch the looming food crisis, Costa Rica has begun thinking about how to help its citizens. And to start, four weeks from now, the Costa Rican government plans to give ¢50,000 monthly (approximately $100) to 16,000 poor families to supplement what income they have.

The money will go to 16,000 female heads of households, living in poverty, and with at least one child under age of 12. This announcement forms part of the Plan Nacional de Alimentos (the National Food Plan) that was announced by Rodrigo Arias (Presidency), Javier Flores (Agriculture), and Guillermo Zúñiga (Treasury).

Yesterday, it was announced that the government will allocate $70 million to prevent a Costa Rica food crisis. Part of this official plan is to strengthen the local agricultural sector, helping it to produce more rice, beans, and corn, three of the country’s most important staples.

Still, no matter how stimulated Costa Rica’s agricultural sector, there will be plenty of Costa Ricans and other nationals unable to put the most basic food on the table. For this reason, the government will step in to help its citizens from going hungry, providing much needed relief and financial stimulus to the country’s poorest families.

The government’s total plan calls for about ¢44 billion (approximately $87,008,108) for its National Food Plan: ¢18 billion (approximately $35,594,226) will help to reduce the social vulnerability of the least wealthy population. ¢26 billion (approximately $51,413,882) will serve to finance small and medium-sized farmers, as well as farmers from the Institute for Agricultural Development (IDA). ¢24,600,000,000 (approximately $48,645,442) are existing resources in public entities, and will be used starting next month. The remaining sum, about ¢19,400,000 (approximately $38,362,665) will come from a budget change — mainly a surplus from lower interest rates and a more favorable colon-dollar exchange rate — and will be ready for next week.

The National Food Plan is strategically designed to guarantee the national availability of major grains and minimize the risk of a higher poverty rate, especially in relation to a higher cost of the basic food basket. These are both looming problems, currently occurring in several countries around the globe, and rather than wait for the problem to hit Costa Rica hard, the government hopes to head it off at the pass with some serious preventative measures.

The Costa Rican government has already taken the first step to put this plan into action, and has asked the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (National Insurance Institute) for ¢4 billion (approximately $7,947,850) for crop security, and the Sistema Bancario Nacional (National Bank System) for an additional ¢8 billion (approximately $15,895,700) to fund additional grains production.

The hope is that an gram of prevention will be worth more than a kilo of cure, investing serious capital to prevent a national food crisis. And by helping increase staple production, maintaining a reasonable cost of food, and giving financial aid to those who cannot pay for food, the country certainly seems poised to help its citizen through a time of worldwide need and crisis.

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Filed under: Costa Rica News on May 9th, 2008