Espiritu Santo - Economy and Infrastructure

Economy and Infrastructure

These villages are mostly self-sufficient with their own vegetable gardens, chickens and pigs. The airport is about five km from town. From Luganville, three ‘main’ roads emerged. One road runs along the south coast for about 40 km to end at the village of Tasiriki. Luganville is the only town on the island, the rest of the island is dotted with small villages.

Santo is home to a number of cattle farms (including the famous Belmol Cattle Project, originally established by French settlers) and exports much of its beef to Japan, Australia and other Pacific Island countries.

Besides beef, tin fish and rice, bought in town, Santo has many foods that locals take for granted and that tourists enjoy as delicacies. Among these are sweet pineapples, mangoes, island cabbage, flying fox and coconut crab, as well as local nuts such as natapoa and the sweet fleshy-fruit nouse. There is a market in Luganville where local food such as manioc, taro, yam, cabbage and other freshly grown island staples are being sold. For groceries and many packaged goods,several small supermarkets(such as LCM, Unity Shell and Au bon Marche) exists where one can do his/her shopping.

Many local people still rely on subsistence farming for their food. Most villages have a garden that is tended by men and women alike. Taro and yam are commonly grown in these gardens, and are mainstays of the local diet.