Latest news with #kava
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Kiribati's considerable kava consumption
Vanuatu kava growers at work Photo: Hilaire Bule Kiribati was the world's largest consumer of Vanuatu kava in 2024. The Vanuatu Daily Post reported that last year the country imported 280 metric tonnes of kava from Vanuatu. Michael Louze, former chairman of the Vanuatu Kava Industry and a kava exporter to the United States, said when you break it down, it's about four kilograms of kava per person annually if half the population drinks. "Some drink more, some less. But even at that level, it's a solid figure for a country this size." In 2023, China was the world's largest importer of raw kava, but 99 per cent of it went towards extract production for re-export. "China was never a market for kava," Louze said. "It made more sense for the bulk product to go through China. But in Kiribati, it's different. They're drinking it - no processing, no re-export. Pure consumption." But one Kiribati kava bar owner, Kantaake Robapi, said there's too many of them now. "Each village has a kava bar. There are too many kava bars in Kiribati. "You pay AUD$150 [approximately US$97] for a licence. The Ministry of Health checks the premises - the toilets, tools for cleaning kava. Once they approve, you pay your fee to the Tarawa council." Kiribati's Minister for Women, Youth and Sports, Ruth Cross Kwansing, has raised concerns about kava's effects on society. Kwansing told the ABC the impact of high kava consumption is being felt at homes. "If fathers aren't home with their children and their wives, then obviously they're not looking after their families and their children," she said. "If they're spending all the money on kava, then where's the funds that the family needs for food and basic essentials?" She said men were exhausted from late-night kava drinking and not able to cut toddy or go out fishing and were not productive at home. Meanwhile, Tonga is calling on fellow Pacific kava producers to follow its lead in restricting the export of kava for extraction - a move that has sparked strong pushback from Vanuatu and Fiji, the region's two largest kava exporters. Tonga's positioncomes from concerns over cultural erosion and potential misuse, and promotes the idea that kava should only be consumed in its traditional, drinkable form - not processed into extracts for capsules, powders, or supplements abroad. There's also worries about a shortage in Vanuatu. Louze linked the shortage to several causes: the increasing number of kava farmers joining seasonal work programmes in Australia and New Zealand, damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Harold on Pentecost in 2020, and growing demand in the Port Vila market. A kava plant takes more than five years to mature before it can be harvested. "People in Port Vila are consuming tons of kava every week, but they are not planting it," he said. "The population is growing rapidly, and more young men and women are drinking kava daily." But he also said farmers cannot go wrong with planting kava with demand both locally and internationally growing, and prices have never been so high.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Kiribati womens minister says kava abuse is wrecking families
A government minister in Kiribati is worried the amount of kava being imported and consumed is threatening the country's development and peoples' way of life. The concern was sparked by a Vanuatu Daily Post newspaper report saying Kiribati was the number one export destination for Vanuatu-grown kava. Last year Kiribati imported 280 tonnes of kava from Vanuatu, enough to make two-point-four million litres of the mildly intoxicating beverage, the paper said. That's an alarming amount for a country with a total population of 130-thousand people according to Ruth Cross Kwansing, the minister for women, youth and sports.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Samoa heads to snap election, after national budget fails to pass
The people of Samoa are heading for an early election, after Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa called for the dissolution of parliament. For many observers, the failure of the budget to pass in parliament is no surprise. Technology facilitated violence or cyber crime is one of the new threats facing girls and women across the Pacific region. A government minister in Kiribati is worried the amount of kava being imported and consumed is threatening the country's development and peoples' way of life. A youth association in Solomon Islands Malaita province have recently celebrated their sweat and tears after they earned a total of SBD $76,000 from the sale of their cocoa in the Provincial Capital Auki, last week.
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Tonga Kava Committee calls for more support for growers
Photo: RNZ Pacific/ MacKenzie Smith Kava growers in Tonga need more facilities and resources to improve production in the kingdom, according to the island's National Kava Committee chariman Fe'ilokitau Tevi, who says the negative impacts of climate change are affecting the industry. The wet season in Tonga typically runs from November to April, but Tevi told RNZ Pacific that they have been experiencing more rainfall than expected in the kingdom at this time of the year. "So that does have an impact on harvesting of kava and the whole processing of kava," Tevi said. "Kava is very finnicky with regards to the humidity levels in the air." Processing kava in this kind of environment requires additional resources and machinery. Ariana Trading's Mele Vaea, who has been growing kava for over 10 years, said that because there has been a lot of rain, they have had to use a kava dehydration machine. However, she said this racks up enormous power bills. "For a month, it's almost TOP$3000 (approx US$1200). It depends on how many (sic) kava we process," she said. Vea said they were looking for donors or funds to assist them in purchasing a solar-powered kava dryer. She said the electricity power supply was also very unreliable. "The electricity here in Tonga is like, on and off, so we need to have our generator in place, just in case, for the time of a power outage." Vea said. And that is only the first of the hurdles Mele Vea and her company have to overcome. Ariana Trading's main export market is the United States, which means that on one hand there is the uncertainty of Trump's trade policies, and on the other is FDA requirements. "And one of the requirements [is] we have to be hazard certified. So we still are working on our kava processing facility at the moment," Vea said. The kava produced by Vea's business is one of Tonga's high grade kavas which includes varieties such as: Lekahina, Kava Uli, Kava Fulufulu, Kofe Hina, Kofe Kula, Kava Kula and Valu, all of which vary in texture and taste. Tevi said there is ongoing work to try and protect the cultural drink from commercialisation. Photo: RNZI/Daniela Maoate-Cox Fe'ilokitau Tevi is of the view that all kava growers in Tonga deserve support, not just those who grow the most kava. "You've got families planting, one-acre plot or half-an-acre plot, to farmers who are doing 8,16, 32, acres of kava and then having access to many more acres of kava," Tevi said, Tevi said the family that plants a small amount of kava is just as important as farmer that plants acres of kava. "So as a country we need to look at the needs of this 10-to-15-plants kava grower as well as the 15-to-20-acres kava grower," Tevi said. As far as pricing goes the national kava committee chair said Tonga is also catching onto what neighbouring countries like Fiji and Vanuatu are doing in grading kava based on quality. "You know people are paying upwards of FJ$140 per kilo (approx US$61) of high grade kava. Vanuatu is the same. So Tonga is just getting there as well," he said. Tevi said people are quick to link high kava prices to a shortage in supply but he thinks that is just one piece of the puzzle. "We can get any type of kava at a cheaper price, that's not an issue. "It's the supply of quality [high] grade kava that is now an issue with regards to pricing," Tevi said. As well as the challenges with growing and exporting Tongan kava, Tevi said there is ongoing work to try and protect the cultural drink from commercialisation. He said some people have been exploiting kava by diluting it and mixing it with other products. In his opinion this doesn't qualify as true kava and he said there are efforts being made to draft a kava bill aimed at safeguarding Tongan kava via the noun "kava". "The many aspects of: protecting, standards, definition of kava these are elements that are going to be incorporated into the kava bill," Tevi said. He said Tonga is in a unique position to do this because it does not have many other indigenous names for kava like yangona in Fiji or malok in Vanuatu. Tevi said if they can successfully argue the word "kava" is etymologically linked to the Tongan language then there is an opportunity to protect it. "And so once we begin the processes to protect the word 'kava' we can then protect the products that use the word 'kava'," he said. Tevi said the question is if you begin to extract kava using other things like CO2, pressure or methane extraction, is that still kava? "And we are saying 'no' it is a Piper methysticum based and extracted product. It is not kava," he said. "Because kava we mix it with water and we drink it. That's kava".
ABC News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Pacific kava advocates wary of Australia introducing stricter Kava regulations
A Pacific community leader in Australia who fought for the resumption of commercial kava imports fears they could be stopped again now that kava smuggling into the Northern Territory, where it's banned, has also resumed. The illicit kava trade to remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory is back in full swing since commercial imports resumed a few years ago. "It's just disappointing to see people went back the same government turns around and bans kava again," said Ratu Maseinawa, a leader in Brisbane's Fijian community, who lobbied hard to get commercial kava imports flowing again. "I was not sure if I was to laugh or to cry because they were presenting the Kava seize as if though it was heroin or cocaine," said Michael Louze from the Vanuatu Kava Industry Association.
