US federal agriculture inspectors at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have found a destructive pest in a shipment of pineapples that's never been seen before in the United States.
The US Customers and Border Protection said Wednesday that the variety of leafhopper found late last month from Costa Rica can cause severe damage to such crops as grapes, potatoes, soybeans and corn.
Crews found a type of aphid in late June. The leafhopper was the second "first-in-the-nation" pest that inspectors at the Southern California port complex have found in the last two months.
This year coffee growers will be able to tap a $140 million fund to replant their land and replace worn out plants. The program was announced Thursday by the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería.
The interest rate for the first three years will be 3 percent or less, officials said. That is far lower than commercially available agricultural credit.
Coffee brings in about $100 million to the country each year. There are nearly 100,000 hectares, some 247,000 acres planted in coffee now.
Officials think that the fund will result in replanting 30,000 hectares or about 74,000 acres. The useful life of a coffee plant is 15 to 20 years.
The unexpected increase in rice harvests from 2010 to 2011 is causing issues for the drying and storage of the grain. The unusually abundant amount of rains this year are not helping either.
The issue first appeared in the south of the country where a record harvest of 43,000 metric tons was recorded, 22% higher than average. Read more »
There were 31 earthquakes at the Irazu volcano this Thursday, yes you're reading it right, 31!
The Irazú shook and shook and shook between 5 am and 11 am on Thursday. Surprisingly, only one of the tremors was felt by the population, registering 3.1 on the Richter scale. Read more »
Costa Rica is finally starting to pay attention to the disastrous garbage and sewage problem in the country.
The Municipalidad de San Jose inaugurated a recycling center in Hatillo Thursday. The municipality hopes to collect 10 percent of the recyclable material in the area around the center. There are 25 locations that accept glass, plastic, paper and cartons and other materials. The Hatillo center is open every Saturday.
The center represents a $341,000 investment with part of the money coming from the government of Japan.
The other part of the loan from Japan is supposed to go towards the construction of the San Jose sewage treatment plant. That plant is supposed to clean the Tarcoles river and quite a big chunk of the Pacific coast currently affected by sewage pollution brought from San Jose by the river.
The Pacific coast experienced another shaker at 6:48 am on Wednesday.
According to the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica in Heredia, the epicenter of the earthquake was about 15 kilometers (about nine miles) south of Sámara on the Nicoya peninsula in the Pacific Ocean. The estimated location is about 130 kilometers or 80 miles west of San José.
The cause of the quake was an interaction between the Coco and Caribe tectonic plates. There were no reports of serious damage or injury.
The Costa Rica's national weather service – Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) – is predicting an intense rain season for 2010, in contrast to the light rainy season of 2009.
El Nino's disappearance is being attributed to the heavy rain forecast for this year.
The heavy rain is also attributed to an increase in hurricanes and cyclones in the Atlantic for 2010. Costa Rica will not be directly hit, but it will feel the affects of most of the hurricanes (mostly from "cola" or tail of the hurricane).
According to the IMN, the Pacific coast and the Central Valley will be the most affected areas.
This Thursday and Friday many banks are quoting exchange rates far higher than the Banco Central de Costa Rica, which seems to lag behind the market.
Banco Nacional established its exchange rate on Friday to be U.S. dollar = 525 colones (to sell) and 534 colones (to buy). Scotiabank had rates of 524 and 536 colones.
Banco Central, however, was quoting 511.15 colons in exchange for one U.S. dollar and 521.38 colons to purchase a dollar.
Earlier in the week a U.S. dollar could buy just 503 colons, so the sudden jump is about 4.4 percent so far.
There still was no explanation as to why the dollar took a fall from the 560-570 range in just a month and a half. Most expats are welcoming the return of strength of the US$.
Planning to go to the Caribbean?
Contrary to the statement by the Policía de Tránsito on Saturday that the Braulio Carrillo (San José – Guapiles) highway would be re-opened Monday morning, the road will continue closed at least until Thursday.
Work crews of the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) have been busy since last Tuesday removing debris from the landslides east of the Zurquí tunnel. Read more »
This week the Central Bank of Costa Rica unveiled the new ¢20.000 and ¢50.000 notes that will be in circulation in July 2010.
The new bills will be in addition to the ¢1.000, ¢2.000. ¢5.000 and ¢10.000 notes already in use.
Marvin Alvarado, of the Central Bank, explained that the first to be emitted will be the ¢20.000 by the end of July or early August, with the rest following slowly thereafter. Read more »
Some 450 firms in the health industry are meeting at the Hotel Ramada Herradura in Belén as part of the first Latin American congress of medicine and well being.
The event is being sponsored, in part, by the Cámara de Exportadores de Costa Rica, which said it sees the country positioning itself as one of the leaders in the $40 billion medical tourism industry. Read more »
The price of gasoline went up as the approved price hike of last week by the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) went into effect.
The new cost of a litre of super gasoline is ¢628 (up from ¢593); regular ¢597 (up from ¢566); and diesel ¢514 (up from ¢494).
Luckily, a price drop is expected next month to reflect the dramatic fall of the dollar we're all witnessing.
A 4.0 magnitude earthquake took place Thursday at 2:38 p.m. in the Pacific, just west of a small village of Parrita.
As usual, the cause was attributed to the collision between the Caribe and the Coco tectonic plates.
The quake was felt in Jacó and other towns along the Pacific coast.
This month the dollar has dropped more than ¢7 colones, hitting a low not seen in 2 years. At the beginning of this year it was around ¢560.
Yesterday the dollar moved a bit upwards, but economists are not ruling out the possibility that the dollar could hit the bottom of the exchange band, ¢500 colones, in the coming days.
Today the reference rate set by the Banco Central de Costa Rica (Central Bank) is ¢512.53 for the buy and ¢523.08 for the sell, a few colones higher than Wednesday's opening.
Experts say that, even though the trend in the short term is to keep dropping, in the long term there will be an increase.
The tolls on the brand-new highway San Jose – Caldera will be going down as of April 1, 2010.
The new rates were published by the road concessionaire, Autopistas del Sol, in Friday's La Nacion.
The new toll charges for passenger vehicles and motorcycles at Escazú will come down to ¢300 (currently ¢320); ¢460 (currently ¢490) at San Rafael (La Guacima); ¢610 (currently ¢640) at Atenas; and ¢460 (currently ¢480) at Pozón. The new total toll charge will be ¢1.830 (currently ¢1.930).
Under the concession contract, Autopistas del Sol can adjust the toll charges quarterly. The reduction was caused by the lower dollar exchange rate.
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September 3, 2010 7:10 pm
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