The Secrets of the Garden
History and Nature in Bellavista
Old world crops
The Typica or Criollo variety was first farmed in the Central Valley in the 1820s and 1830s. The bourbon variety expanded in the beginning of the twentieth century, as did other low bearing varieties such as caturra, catua, or catimor, a Tico hybrid, as well as “Villa Sarchi” and “Villalobos,” which were products of local mutations, among others.
Coffee (Coffea arabica)
The international United Fruit Company established banana plantations on a massive scale in the Caribbean. Banana activity shifted to the Central and South Pacific in the 1930s and 1940s, where it remained the leading crop until the mid-1980s. Today, the African palm dominates the agricultural landscape of this region, from which palm oil, essential to the food sector, is extracted.