Economy
Historically the municipality has been engaged in forestry, logging of tropical hardwoods, extraction of other forest products such as medicinal herbs and other non-timber forest products. From 1948 to 1951 and then from 1968 to 1970, the municipality of El Castillo was a major producer of bananas. The bananas were transported to Puerto Limón in Costa Rica, where they were sold by U.S. companies. Cultivation later declined as a result of black sigatoka (a disease caused by Mycosphaerella fijiensis, a fungus of the Ascomycota phylum).
The main economic activity continues to be agriculture, most notably corn and bananas. There are also a number of small businesses that serve the needs of the local and tourist population. These include 25 small markets, 9 bakeries, 2 butcher shops, 7 restaurants, 20 bars (6 just for tourists), 4 hotels, 4 sport shops, 5 carpenters shops, 2 gas stations for boats, and 1 mill.
Read more about this topic: El Castillo (municipality)
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Wise men read very sharply all your private history in your look and gait and behavior. The whole economy of nature is bent on expression. The tell-tale body is all tongues. Men are like Geneva watches with crystal faces which expose the whole movement.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“War. Fighting. Men ... every man in the whole realm is in the army.... Every man in uniform ... An economy entirely geared to war ... but there is not much war ... hardly any fighting ... yet every man a soldier from birth till death ... Men ... all men for fighting ... but no war, no wars to fight ... what is it, what does it mean?””
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)