Restoration of orange trees in the Punaruu valley - French Polynesia
Through the EU-funded PROTEGE programme, the Directorate of Agriculture and the Pacific Community (SPC) are supporting a project to restore orange trees on the Rata plateau in the Punaruu valley.
This project is implemented by the Punaruu Valley Protection Association, which has three facilitators in charge of setting up a nursery.
Two to three times a month, a dozen active volunteers go up to the plateau to maintain and multiply the orange plants.
70 orange plants have been grafted and lifted onto the plateau and 50 plants have been planted to date.
Since January 2022, the seeds collected on the Rata plateau have been used to produce more than 500 orange seedlings by volunteers and around 50 have been planted.
The management of invasive alien species is a daily task and fundamental to the restoration of the valley's orange trees. It should be noted that no chemical herbicides are used in order to respect the spirit of preservation of the natural environment.
