Melina Campos Ortiz

In 2022, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released a report that signals Costa Rica as the most intensive user of agrochemicals globally, with 34.5 kg of agrochemicals per cultivated hectare per year. Such findings, resulting from an unofficial way of calculating agrochemical use, suggest that Costa Rica needs to reduce chemical usage in its agrarian industries. However, Costa Rican agriculture authorities dispute the report results and instead opt to accelerate the registration process for new agrochemicals. Meanwhile, the central government keeps projecting Costa Rica as an emblem of environmental harmony and conservation to keep attracting tourists and investors to the country. Positioned at the intersection of widespread agro-toxicity and a profoundly ingrained environmental friendliness narrative, I ask: What are the politics of a UNDP-backed calculation seeking to determine agro-toxicity otherwise in Costa Rica? This ethnographic research follows the social life of the UNDP-backed calculation. By actively participating in its calculative practices and assisting the UNDP in its mission to facilitate the country’s transition to less chemical-dependent agriculture, I aim to tell a story of how a numerical figure attempts to change the argument of a deeply entrenched narrative and the tensions and possibilities that such an attempt brings about.