Costa Rica, a country of Central America, covers an area of 19,730 square miles. The capital is San José. Extending from northwest to southeast, Costa Rica is bounded on the north by Nicaragua, along its 185-mile northeastern coastline by the Caribbean Sea, on the southeast by Panama, and along its 630-mile southwestern coastline by the Pacific Ocean. Costa Rica has a narrow Pacific coastal region that rises abruptly into central highlands. The highlands, forming the rugged backbone of the country, descend much more gradually toward the generally wider Caribbean Atlantic Plain. The Pacific coast is generally lowland in character, and,...
in oil prices resulted in a significant decline in agricultural production. Even so, agriculture accounts for approximately one-fifth of the gross domestic product GDP and employs more than one-fourth of the work force. Coffee is the single largest export item; other cash crops include bananas, beef, sugar, and cocoa. Staples such as corn, beans, and rice are also widely grown. The government has distributed high-yield varieties of coffee to growers and has provided farmers of other crops with improved seeds. Poor market conditions and bad weather, however, occasionally affect production. The country's monetary unit is the Costa Rican colon.