Food Systems in an Unequal World: Pesticides, Vegetables, and Agrarian Capitalism in Costa Rica

6. “It Just Goes to Kill Ticos”

On a rare cloud-free morning in 2003 I visited the farm of Manuel, who produces chayote for export and other vegetables sold on the national market. He showed me that he washes his chayote in clean wash bins dedicated solely to the task, as required by the exporter that contracts with him. As we walked across his farm and through fields of green beans and trellises of chayote, we came upon workers washing green beans for the national market, distinguishable by their larger size from the vainica fina (fine green beans) grown for export. The workers were washing the green beans in a fifty-gallon drum known as an estañón, which almost all farmers in the area use for mixing pesticides (figure 6.1). This was occurring right within the pesticide mixing area, next to pesticide bottles and other estañones. When I expressed shock, he said adamantly that he would never do that with his export chayote. Besides, he assured me, the estañón had been rinsed well since being used for pesticides. His reason for not washing his national market green beans in his export chayote wash bin was that he sprayed the green beans with pesticides not permitted on export chayote. There is a risk that these residues would contaminate the export crop through the wash bin. The solution is using a pesticide mixing tank, rather than the export wash bins, to wash produce for his fellow Ticos (a nickname Costa Ricans give themselves because of their propensity to use a diminutive adjective form ending in “tico,” such as chiquitico rather than chiquito). This double standard in the treatment of export and national market produce illustrates this chapter’s focus: pesticide use on national market vegetables as it relates to residues, especially in comparison with exported vegetables. A great deal of research focuses on pesticide residues and pesticide use as it relates to residues in developing countries. The studies follow three general contours: (1) residue testing by analytical chemists and food 6 “It Just Goes to Kill Ticos” 172 Chapter 6 toxicologists that generally shows high levels of pesticides on national market produce (Carazo et al. 1984; Centre for Science and Environment 2006; Chang, Chen, and Fang 2005; Dogheim et al. 1990; Ip 1990); (2) assessments of the practices of pesticide use, as discussed in chapter 5, emphasizing farmers’ lack of caution for both their own safety and that of consumers of their products; and (3) critical social science—generally using political ecology or political economy of agriculture approaches— that emphasizes a neocolonial environmental injustice by relating pesticide use and problems to the broader political economy and agroexports (Weir and Schapiro 1981). The first two types of studies identified above—residue studies and those emphasizing lack of caution—generally conclude, with little supporting evidence, that pesticide problems stem from ignorance, so education or training of farmers is the best approach to correct the problem (e.g., Rodríguez Solano 1994). In contrast, the studies in the last category Figure 6.1 Green beans for national market being washed in a pesticide mixing tank. (Source: author) “It Just Goes to Kill Ticos” 173 almost always conclude that integration of agricultural production into export markets increases pesticide use, thereby subjecting local populations and environments to high levels of pesticide contamination (Conroy, Murray, and Rosset 1996; Mo 2001; Murray 1991, 1994; Murray and Hoppin 1992; Stewart 1996; Stonich 1993; Thrupp 1991a, 1991b; Thrupp, Bergeron, and Waters 1995). This work informed by political economy remains silent on national market production, making for a substantial gap in applying a political-ecological approach to domestic produce in developing countries. Filling this gap means confronting unanswered questions. Two are addressed here. First, why do farmers use pesticides in a manner that causes high levels of residues on produce for developing country markets? Specifically , can this be attributed to lack of education, as is often done, or more to political economic factors related to production and/or the ecological underpinnings of agriculture? Second, what are the effects of uneven pesticide residue regulations on farmers’ pesticide use? In other words, how do food systems in an unequal world, expressed through different markets often with different types and strengths of pesticide regulation , affect farmers’ pesticide use and the exposure of different populations fed by different market segments? These questions are important to most everyone who eats food in developing countries—the majority of...