Vanuatu has a large rural population with high population growth and typically low income. There is a need for the development of industries that deliver income into remote communities. Commercial smallholder sandalwood agroforestry is an industry that can help increase both rural income and export earnings. Thus smallholder farmers in Vanuatu may be able to capitalise on recognised future global shortages of sandalwood by building an industry that sustainably harvests from existing stands and plants the local species Santalum austrocaledonicum - for which an earlier ACIAR project (FST/2002/097) identified populations of a quality that meets the international standard.
While a marked increase in sandalwood planting has occurred in Vanuatu over the past 5 years, there are a number of technical and socioeconomic factors that limit the expansion of this industry. This project aims to address the knowledge and resource gaps that currently constrain the industry's development. By supporting the development of community sandalwood agroforestry this project can bring positive social, economic and environmental benefits to the people of Vanuatu. The project outputs may also have relevance to potential sandalwood planting by indigenous communities in north Queensland.