Maize Culture | Costa Rican Government Decrees Corn as Cultural Heritage

Leyenda de origen.  Source: Radio Luzmar

Declaration
includes traditions, agriculture, customs, ideas, flavors and colors

TRANSGENIC
PLANTINGS ARE UNRESOLVED THREAT

Devon G.
Peña | Seattle, WA | July 28, 2014

We are all familiar with the idea that many ethnic
and indigenous communities self-identify as “corn cultures” in the Americas.
The most familiar case is that of Mexico since ancient civilizations proclaimed
themselves to have arisen from maize. Indeed, the Mayan creation stories
include the poetic account of how first woman and man are molded from white and
yellow corn plants. One eloquent proponent of the concept of Mexico as a corn
culture is Roberto Rodriguez whose doctoral studies focused on Centeotzintli,
the traditional environmental knowledge and ritual practices associated with
maize as a sacred plant. Lauren Baker – in a fabulous new book, Corn
Meets Maize – is another scholar who observes that in indigenous
communities, the cultivated fields of maize constitute a space where nature and
culture, policy and practice intersect.

Now we have the first case where a nation has
officially declared itself to be a corn-based civilization and culture. On July
25, the Government of Costa Rica decreed that corn is the heart of the nation’s
cultural heritage. This includes its gastronomic heritage and cultural
expressions that have grown along with the planting, harvesting and consumption
of this vital grain.

“To avoid any doubt, we are declaring that this
extraordinary grain – which gave rise to most luminous civilizations of
Mesoamerica – is also recognized as the central and matrix force of Costa Rican
nationality,” the president of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, asserted
during a speech marking the announcement of the declaration.

The heart of “corn country” in Costa Rica is the
bioregion of Guanacaste and the president was touring the area as part of activities
for the celebration of the 190th anniversary of the Annexation of Nicoya. [Moderator’s Note: Nicoya, est. in 1554,
marked the existence of the distinct territory of Costa Rica as separate from
Nicaragua.]

The official announcement emphasizes the recognition
of the many traditions, agricultural practices, customs, knowledge, tastes, and
colors associated with the cultivation, preparation, and consumption of the
multitude of locally adapted land race varieties of corn. The entire Central
American bioregion is considered an essential part of the Mesoamerican center
of origin for Zea mays.

The government explains the significance of the declaration:

In Costa Rica, especially in
Guanacaste, there is a rich and varied cuisine based on the use of corn, and in
addition there are many traditions, social practices, knowledge and cultural
expressions that deserve to be preserved for the benefit of farming communities
and the collective norms and cultural identity of the country.

Elizabeth Fonseca, Minister of Culture and Youth,
emphasized the importance of the declaration as a mandate to direct support and
“more resources to projects in pursuit of the development and conservation of
the traditions that are based on corn.”

The Costa Rican government’s declaration that the
nation is essentially a corn culture is a significant triumph of the indigenous
worldview against the imperatives [and crops] of former and aspiring colonial
empires. However, much of the actual work of conservation and protection
remains to be done and a major remaining challenge will be addressing the
continued presence of small but troubling plantings of GM (genetically
modified) corn inside Costa Rica.

According to a largely overlooked report from January
23, 2013, environmentalists in Costa Rica rigorously protested the planting
of GMO corn a day after the National Biosafety Commission approved two hectares
for Monsanto. According to the Commission’s records, D & PL Seeds Ltd, a Monsanto
subsidiary, was the recipient of the permit approving company plantings on two
hectares in Abangares, a northwestern province of Guanacaste.

The Commission continues to insist that these permits
involve cultivation for research; the results will not produce corn for human
consumption or marketing. However, this clarification still violates the spirit
of the more recent “Corn Culture Declaration” since Costa Rica is an
established center of origin for maize. Thus, the planting of any GMO corn is a
certain threat through the existence of inadvertent gene flows, potentially
resulting in the contamination of land race varieties with serious cultural,
ecological, and economic consequences.

It will be interesting to see if the environmental
groups including the “Green Block” will be able to apply pressure on the
biosafety commissioners based on this new national declaration, given that they
are believed to have exhausted legal avenues to prevent the planting of
genetically modified corn.

Given the success of the Green Block movement – an
initiative of universities, environmentalists, and farmers – the question now
is if the declaration of the Ministry of Culture that corn is Costa Rica’s
cultural heritage, will survive legal challenges by Monsanto and their
neoliberal allies who will continue to push for the approval of GM corn
plantings. The Green Block movement is active at the local and municipal levels
and many farming communities have already declared themselves to be GMO-free,
accounting for approximately 20 percent of the territory of Costa Rica, most in
the province of Guanacaste.