School visits & virtual tour

Virtual tour

A walk around Saraoutou

Ten stops, cleared photos only. Swipe or scroll.

1. Photo: VARTC (2016 website)

   Stop 1

   The nursery

   Every improved palm starts here, as a seednut in a row under shade.[1]

2. Photo: J.P. Labouisse (CIRAD)

   Stop 2

   A young Vanuatu Tall

   A five-year-old Vanuatu Tall in trial GC29 — the local palm that tolerates CFDV.[2]

3. Photo: J.P. Labouisse (CIRAD)

   Stop 3

   The harvest

   Selection for more nuts and more copra per nut lifted yields from 1.3 to 2.2 t/ha.[1]

4. Photo: VARTC (2016 website)

   Stop 4

   Under the canopy

   About 220 hectares of coconuts cover the domain (2016).[3]

5. Photo: VARTC (2016 website)

   Stop 5

   Cattle under coconut

   Cattle graze beneath the palms — a system studied here since 1962.[4]

6. Photo: © European Union / Fiona Goodall · CC BY 4.0

   Stop 6

   The herd

   Charolais crossbreeding began in 1967.[5]

7. Photo: VARTC (2016 website)

   Stop 7

   Pasture by the sea

   About 100 hectares of open pasture (2016).[3]

8. Photo: VARTC (2016 website)

   Stop 8

   Cocoa

   Breaking pods and extracting beans; 86 cocoa clones in the collection (2016).[6]

9. Photo: VARTC (2016 website)

   Stop 9

   Root crops

   Taro and aroid field trials; 288 aroid varieties in the collection (2016).[7]

10. Photo: VARTC (2016 website)

    Stop 10

    Learning in the field

    Field training with seedlings and a new plantation layout.[1]

Photos: VARTC 2016 website, European Commission (CC BY 4.0) and J.P. Labouisse (CIRAD). See photo credits.