Key Trends from the 2008 ASTI regional report on Central America

• Costa Rica has Central America's largest and most advanced agricultural research system. In 2006, the country employed 283 fte agricultural R&D staff.
• INTA conducts the majority of this research, together with a number of decentralized research and outreach centers located at state universities including the University of Costa Rica (UCR), the National University (UNA), and the
  University of Technology (UT). A number of private research initiatives focus on bananas, coffee, and sugarcane.
• Costa Rica experienced a period of overall growth in agricultural R&D spending during 1981–2006, at an average rate of almost 3 percent per year. This growth can largely be attributed to increased spending in the country’s nongovernmental sector.
• A significant amount of Costa Rican agricultural R&D is funded via resources generated by the institutions themselves.

Costa Rica

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