The main objective of this research was to contribute to a better understanding of the cultural, economic, social, political and biophysical factors underlying land use trends in the dry forest zone of Costa Rica, aiming at the identification of economically viable options to increase forest and tree cover. The specific objectives were: to develop and test a predictive model of biophysical and spatial factors underlying land use change as identified by census, spatial and time series data; to analyse the economic, social, political and cultural factors that also influence land use changes and to understand farmer preferences about spatial arrangements of trees on cattle farms.
With these objectives, the research was guided by the following 7 questions.
1) What are the biophysical and spatial factors underlying farm characteristics in Costa Rica? 2)
Which cattle production, dairy or beef, has a better location rent? 3) Which land use
changes can be identified and quantified in Canas over the past decade? 4) Which
exogenous farm factors have influenced the decisions on land use change? 5) Which
endogenous farm factors have influenced the decisions on land use change? 6) What
are the main reasons for tolerating, stimulating or managing forest and tree resources
on cattle farms? 7) What is the potential for introducing new agroforestry and
silvopastoral technologies on cattle farms?
The hypotheses were: Question 1) elevation and rainfall are the main biophysical forces
underlying the type of cattle production, dairy or beef; Question 2) dairy farms have a better location rent compared to beef farms; Question 3) the main land use change up to the early 1990's was the conversion of dry forest into cattle pastures. As cattle prices plummeted after 1994, forest regeneration areas have expanded at the expense of cattle pastures; Question 4) beef prices, in addition to government subsidies and incentives which are the key external factors underlying land use change can be
rejected; Question 5) the opportunity cost of forest and tree resources management, as well as farmers' socio-economic characteristics, are the main internal factors that influence land use change; Question 6) the main reason for forest patches on cattle farms is the low marginal utility of maintaining these areas as pastures can not be rejected and Question 7) the demand for new technologies rises with decreasing opportunity costs of sound management of forest and tree resources on cattle farms
was accepted.
Question 1 was addressed in Chapter 3, using a Legit model. According to the Logit
model, spatial and geographic factors have important effects on the type of cattle
production. The main factor is elevation, followed by irrigation systems; both factors having a direct relationship to the probability of having dairy farms. These farms are more influenced by spatial and geographic characteristics, especially elevation and if the conditions are suitable for dairy production, the farmer will chose this type of production, and not beef production.
Although Guanacaste had a good water supply, with rainfall higher than 1400 mm/year, it was found that water supply was an important issue determining cattle production activity, essential for dairy cattle. On the other hand, elevation had a direct relationship with dairy production activity. Higher elevation implies lower temperatures, resulting in better adaptability of dairy cattle.
Question 2 was also discussed in Chapter 3. It was found that beef production is less profitable than dairy production because it occurs in places unsuitable for dairy production. Thus, beef farms are spread over the country while dairy farms are concentrated around suitable site. Consequently, transportation costs for dairy production tend to be lower. Not only geographic factors influence the transportation cost, but also the type of product. Milk is a bulk product, so farmers send the milk to plant processors at least twice a week, thus farms and markets are located as close as possible to each other to minimize transportation costs. Although Tobit models were not significant, they show that dairy production is more intensive than beef; the technological variables had a higher effect on dairy farms. Nevertheless, this study did not consider the financial aspect of cattle production, but this finding lends support to the assumption that beef production is less profitable than diary, and that beef farms are based on the use of natural resources. Farmers would only tend to invest in technology if it had a positive profit effect. The value of this variable shows that beef farmers are less motivated to improve the level of technology.
Then, 80% of the beef farms in Costa Rica have extensive production systems based on the use of pasturelands with low capital investment like irrigation systems and wells.
Based on the discussion in Chapter 3, it is possible to conclude that forest cover in the dry forest zone of Costa Rica has increased since 1961 . Most of the increase of forestcover was at expense of pasture without tree cover which was converted into pasture with tree cover.
Chapter 3 also addressed Question 4. It was found that the reason for the increase of forest and tree resource cover is the economic condition of the country, especially the rapid urbanisation process. Then, a change in this tendency is not expected. Therefore, forest and tree resources do not appear to be in danger. Forest cover seems inelastic to change in the international and national beef prices.
Question 5 was discussed in Chapter 4. Forest and tree resources on cattle farms exist because of their low opportunity cost. Farmers use these resources as inputs for cattle production, and a few of them saw the forest and tree resources as an investment. However, the likelihood of change in the pattern of land cover in the area is low, implying that forest cover is not in danger. It was found that livestock is not the main income source in farmer livelihoods, which instead appear more linked to non-farm activities.
Question 6 is discussed in Chapter 5 using a livelihood approach. Forest and tree
resources were on cattle farms as an input for cattle production especially for forage production. It was found that forest patches can support one third the Animal Stocking Rate supported by pasturelands, confirming that forest resources are important in livestock production. Therefore, the main spatial tree distribution in cattle farms is dispersed in pasturelands. These trees contributed with the production of forage and shade for livestock. For this reason, tree management is a function of cattle management.
Finally, Question 7 is discussed in Chapter 5. Forest and tree resource management has potential to be included in cattle farms because forest resources on cattle farms are used in cattle production as a strategy to reduce production costs, and any strategy to introduce the management of this resource must consider this fact. Although silvopastoral systems might appear to be an option, more research to understand the relationship between pasture and trees, livestock and trees and the management of this relationship is required.
Most farmers in the area have a least 20% of their area under forest cover, and most of the pastures have trees. Considering that most of these forest areas are younger than 20 years old, the potential to improve the forest production is high.
As main conclusion from this research, it was found that farmers are not interested in investing in forest and tree resource management. Farmers demand a payment for the presence of forest cover on their farms; they demand 11 US$ for every one percent increase in forest and tree resource cover. However, at initial stages, forest and tree resources can have positive effects on grasses cover with externalities to cattle production. Therefore, payments should begin where tree and grass trade-off start. It is not well defined when this trade-off begins; therefore, more resources on defining the biological relation between trees and grasses is necessary.