Law and regulations approved under Descubre - Cannabis, medicinal and therapeutic uses; Hemp, food industry.
Runner up: Best use of partnerships
Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promotion Agency
DESCUBRE PROGRAM
‘We believe in Costa Rica's immense potential of its agricultural sector to transform, adapt, create jobs and opportunities for the entire country. This transformation strengthens our position on the global stage. We are committed to fostering innovation through differentiated, comprehensive strategies like Descubre – recognizing that innovation is our cornerstone for future growth and sustainable development.’
Laura Lopez Salazar Chief Executive Officer, PROCOMER
WHAT THE JUDGES SAY
‘Clear partnerships – private sector, public entities, business support organizations and academia – all with specific roles in promoting trade.’
‘Good initiative – brings many actors to the table to create an export path for new value chains, taking into account the country’s reputation in sustainability and conservation.’
‘Good use of resources – leverages strength in agriculture and focuses on sustainability approaches to support export strategies and objectives.’
To diversify from bananas, coffee and pineapples to a range of mariculture products, produce and livestock exports, PROCOMER reaches out to regional and coastal areas to spur innovation, investment and institutional coordination.
The Trade and Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica (PROCOMER) developed a programme called Descubre (discover). It has introduced orange sweet potatoes to Europe, helped get cannabis laws enacted for medical and industrial use, simplified aquaculture business procedures and set up an annual business networking meeting.
Costa Rica has long been recognized as a sustainable trade and development leader. The increase in forested areas has intensified competition for agricultural land. Agriculture contributes 4.5% of gross domestic product and 20% of export goods. Bananas, pineapples, and coffee make up 70% of these exports. To diversify, the country is transforming agriculture through policy reforms, and building stronger institutional frameworks and operative capability.
Addressing the flip side of forestation
Descubre targeted initiatives for agricultural innovative solutions in SMEs, private sector investment, coordination among institutions and appropriate funding.
PROCOMER created a Private Advisory Council and Ministerial Council to coordinate the country’s efforts to diversify exports, with the Ministry of Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the National Chamber of Agriculture and Agroindustry, private sector stakeholders and academia.
Innovation has many faces
Descubre focuses on manila hemp, marine farming, cannabis, turmeric, beef production to the European Union market, premium cacao, orange sweet potato, cassava sub-products, insects as protein, papaya, avocado, mango, plantain and ginger.
Innovations manifest as new value chains, markets, logistic enhancements, processing or packaging innovations or regulatory improvements. Descubre works through four platforms:
- Prospecting: Scopes commercial opportunities, collaborates with R&D centres and universities for market research and product development.
- Project: Selects activities, assigns roles, determines bottlenecks and a roadmap.
- Investment: Attracts investment for rural areas.
- Innovation: Prioritizes research in the agricultural innovation ecosystem.
Data analysis from PROCOMER’s business intelligence department underpins value chain workshops to prioritize constraints such as non-tariff barriers for sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers in SMEs and trade policy uncertainties.
Initiatives prioritize diversifying farming systems, adopting climate-smart agriculture practices, and innovations that address market challenges.
Digital tools support growing and harvesting decisions to comply with quality and international standards.
MEASURING SUCCESS
So far, the programme has supported over 230 small and medium-sized companies with seed capital and technical assistance.
PROCOMER defines performance indicators such as the percentage of progress, and the numbers of bottlenecks solved, hectares supported and networking events. It monitors them quarterly through its internal control unit and its Ministerial Council.
New initiatives are benchmarked and aligned with previous ones. A Customer Relationship Management system and a dedicated seed capital platform allows real-time tracking.
A risk management tool tracks risks, potential impact, likelihood of occurrence, and mitigation or contingency plans. Summary tables track overall progress, with links to technical sheets for value chains, event websites, internal platforms, campaign information, regulatory changes, video testimonials and documentary photos.
small and medium-sized companies supported
‘We implemented precision agriculture for our orange sweet potatoes – a measurement system with soil sensors for water and nutrient levels, and a digital fertilization system to activate from our cell phones. We developed a better product and became more productive, which opened the door to exporting.’
Silvia Arroyo Ecosiembra Agroindustrial
‘We improved our company’s operations with the post-harvest centre. We receive cacao from the field, and now control factors that influence high-quality cacao production, allowing us to produce chocolate and other derivatives. Our competitive advantage lies in scale – we manage in an integrated and self-sustainable manner, adding value at each stage.’
Aldo Sanchez Nortico Cacao Farm
