Day 242 - 29 Apr 96 - Page 13

     
     1        either higher or lower land use capability than is required
     2        for pasture being dedicated to pasture against technical
     3        advice.
     4
     5   Q.   Right.  Finally from the Cesca document there are two
     6        further points on that page.  It is said:
     7
     8        "The transformation of forest to pasture usually has an
     9        intermediate and transitory step, the production of grain
    10        for one or two years to pay for the cost of clearing the
    11        forest lands."
    12
    13        Does that accord with your understanding?
    14        A.  For some of the ranches.   It is very difficult to put
    15        a percentage on it.
    16
    17   Q.   But the transitional period is usually a very short period?
    18        A.  It can range for 2 to 3 years up to about 5 or 6.  In
    19        fact, I refer to that in one of my academic publications.
    20
    Q.   Okay.
    22        A.  Stage by stage but that applies to -- I do not want to
    23        be too detailed but to put a more accurate picture on it,
    24        the stage by stage process applies much more to pasture
    25        expansion on poor degraded land which has no long term
    26        future.
    27
    28   Q.   Right.  If we look on page 69, which is the next page in
    29        the documents, it is actually a continuation of the
    30        previous paragraph, that is where that quote is taken
    31        from.
    32        A.  Yes.
    33
    34   Q.   The first full sentence on page 69: "There is usually an
    35        intermediate and transitory step between forest and
    36        pastures".
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You have set this out on page 151 of your
    39        article where you set out the 6 stages and those yearly
    40        steps appear as well?
         A.  That is correct.
    42
    43   Q.   You adhere to that, do you?
    44        A.  I do while making the qualification that that step by
    45        step process applies more, which I should have done in the
    46        article.  It is not specified but it applies far more to
    47        expansion of pasture in land with a rather low capacity.
    48
    49   MR. MORRIS:  Right?
    50        A.  What has tended to happen for much better quality land 
    51        is that larger purchasers, corporations or investors would 
    52        go for land with a high use capacity which is equally 
    53        irrational, according to my research, because it could be
    54        used for more intensive production than pasture and
    55        contribute to a far greater degree to Costa Rica's food
    56        security system, among other things.
    57
    58   Q.   The alternative to pasture would be what?
    59        A.  Would be a high density agriculture, market gardening,
    60        a whole range of products.