Diversified Palm Pilot Plantation

Publication Date: 
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Source: 
INOGO Newsletter, No. XI

 

In late October 2014, INOGO Co-Director Dr. Rodolfo Dirzo and Local Coordinator Diego Garcia Godinez met with various local governmental, organizational, and community members and leaders in Puerto Jimenez, Rancho Quemado, and Río Claro to initiate fieldwork for an experimental African palm plantation in the ACOSA area. The INOGO team was able to present and contextualize the work that was undertaken to support the proposed African palm lab, such as the INOGO Case Study led by Dr. Dirzo of the effects of African palm on biodiversity.

Depending on the various developmental scenarios outlined and mapped in the INOGO Future Scenarios Report, there will be an expected increase in African palm cultivation in the ACOSA area due to its high international demand and market price. The proposed African palm lab is a means to study the effects of multiple agricultural regimes under such future scenarios with African palm. Given the intensity of cropping, in addition to other agricultural and botanical factors such as the presence of other crops, epiphytes, and proximity to protected areas and forests, Dr. Dirzo and colleagues will not only be able to develop new methods in assessing the impacts of agroforestry on biodiversity in the Osa, but establish a “best practices” model for African palm cultivation that promotes agricultural and biological sustainability in the region.

Recently as a pilot study, the African palm lab has planted its first hectare of African palm diversified with other plants in Diego Garcia’s Finca Integral. This will serve as a feasibility study used to implement methods and analysis before scaling up to a 100 x 100 meter experimental palm plantation. Future pilot study iterations by Dr. Dirzo’s team are expected on this one hectare and results will determine how and when to initiate the full study.

For more information, please contact Diego Garcia Godinez by email at:

dgarciagodinez@hotmail.com