Vanuatu only has one commodity where it leads the world but is now in serious danger of losing its grip on controlling and supplying the best kava found in the world, as a direct result of lack of vision and investment into the kava industry by the Vanuatu government.
Vanuatu kava expert Vincent Lebot says he has been banging his head against a brick wall for more than 20 years trying to persuade the Vanuatu government to put money into developing the kava industry and to have value added products made locally yet nothing has happened other than the government monopolizing kava export and control through the VCMB.
Fiji in comparison, have seen the importance of growing kava in the rural areas as a means to combating urban drift and have recently appointed Dr Richard Beyer as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture to develop and expand the Fijian kava industry and to improve the quality of their kava. Beyer is well known in Vanuatu as a kava expert and his appointment will see a radical improvement in the Fiji kava industry.
Since the Fiji dollar was devalued by 20% Vanuatu exports of kava to Fiji have plummeted because it is cheaper to produce and purchase in Fiji than import from Vanuatu. Fiji has realised that kava exports can be a massive boost to their foreign exchange earnings through export to the growing US market. In 2008 the value of kava exports to Fiji was worth vt203 million and our largest market. That will now plummet.
Our kava exports are falling before the Fiji dollar hits our kava exports. In 1998 we exported 749 tonnes. This rose to a peak in 2001 of 935 tonnes but in 2007 it had fallen to 306 tonnes. Vanuatu last year exported 355 tonnes worth Vt486.6 million worth of kava.
This is significantly lower than in previous years as our kava reputation has taken a hiding over the past few years because of lack of government quality control over kava exports which has allowed unscrupulous exporters to export quick growing but unhealthy ‘Tudei’ kava varieties which are rich in dihydrokavain and dihydromethysticin, two kavalactones with a long-lasting physiological effect causing nausea and hangovers. This is well documented and nobody wants to drink these varieties, but because they grow faster, are high yielding as well as resistant to diseases, farmers prefer to cultivate them for sale.
Vincent Lebot is unhappy at the deterioration of quality kava produced in Vila nakamals and in kava for export. He has previously stated in letters, “nowadays the exported dried kava is not peeled (as it was in the early 80s) and is being exported with the bark attached to the chips which makes it potentially livertoxic. The bark contains a poisonous alkaloid called Pipermethystine which is naturally produced by the plant to protect itself from predators. It gives a very bitter taste to the beverage and causes running red eyes.
In Vanuatu, consumers are well aware of that and know that kava has to be peeled prior to consumption but farmers and exporters are not concerned by the health of consumers in Fiji and New Caledonia and when kava is dried it is simply impossible to peel it. The same is observed in many Port-Vila kava bars where unscrupulous bar tenders do not peel their kava in order to reduce their preparation costs. These malpractices have been known for many years but it is legally impossible to control greedy farmers and exporters.
The kava industry in Vanuatu is going backwards at an alarming rate instead of forwards and the problems with a controversial VCMB monopoly on kava have basically crippled the industry at a time when other countries are starting to reap the rewards of investing heavily into kava over the past decade.
The government should move quickly to ban the growing and sale of the toxic ‘tudei’ kava as it is destroying Vanuatu’s reputation as a quality kava producer.
The Vanuatu government only passed the Kava Bill outlawing exports of live kava root last year after the 2002 Bill that had been passed by Parliament but not gazetted because it was unconstitutional because it differentiated between indigenous Ni Vanuatu and Vanuatu citizens when it only gave approval for exporting kava to indigenous Ni Vanuatu. It took another six years to get the bill amended, voted on in parliament and then gazetted to make it law in 2008.
Only when the law had been passed was it illegal to export live kava roots out of Vanuatu and this mistake and lack of forsight has already tipped the scales away from Vanuatu as our noble varieties of kava are now growing in Maliata in the Solomon Islands, in PNG, New Caledonia, Bali, Hawaii and South America.
Vincent Lebot advised that a missionary took Pentecost Borogu kava plants to Malaita many years ago as a gift. As a direct result of that Malaita now produces it’s own Borogu kava and powder in large quantities in direct competition to Vanuatu and what is of real concern is the fact that Vanuatu kava exporters cannot compete with them on price as over here the price to purchase kava is set by VCMB at vt1000 per kilo and this affects export price. In Vanuatu the cost of a kilo of kava powder for export is as high as $45 a kilo for up to 100kilo. You can now purchase Pentecost Borogu kava out of Solomons for US$29 a kilo without any government control. This is a ridiculous position for Vanuatu to be in and a national embarassment.
Tanna kava growers made the mistake of taking strong Tanna kava plants to New Caledonia where they are now being grown ona large scale. PNG is now exporting kava from plant cuttings from Vanuatu and Lebot advises, “I have received emails confirming Vanuatu kava plants were smuggled out to Bali on a boat and are now being grown and sold over there in powder form.”
The biggest threat comes from Hawaii where millions of dollars have been pumped into kava nurseries and they now grow disease free, extremely potent kava, some of which originated from Vanuatu in the late 90’s when kava was booming.
Concerns are rife that Chinese investors are trying to get hold of Vanuatu kava and illegally get them into China to grow in Hainan and to deveop a range of kava pharmecutical products and beverages. Daily Post sources claim a New Zealand woman is coming to Vanuatu with someone to examine how to smuggle out kava plants by boat to China in breach of the Kava act forbidding export of live plant material. Our sources claim that Chinese will pay big money for live kava plant cuttings.
Lebot has confirmed that three years ago Chinese investors proposed a multi milliond dollar kava lactone processing facility in Santo which never eventuated after concerns were raised over the project. If China managed to get hold of Vanuatu live kava plants and grew them in China, our kava industry would be finished.
Daily Post believes that it is imperative that the Vanuatu government place emphasis on protecting and deveoping the Vanuatu kava industry and give grants to enable value added businesses to set up to make kava products here and export them worldwide.
Exciting developments have occurred in recent months with a local company inventing the process to isolate kava lactones into a thick oily substance with high potency that can be used to put into a variety of drinks without the bitter kava powder taste. Pepis Cola have expressed interest in the product and tests are being done to produce a chocolate milk with kava in Fiji.
Vanuatu needs to set up a Kava Council through the government Ministry of Agriculture with competent people such as Vincent Lebot, James Armitage and Charles Long Wah on the board and no polititical involvement as is in VCMB. It needs government funding to set up and develop kava nurseries of noble varieties and for government involvement in helping develop kava products for export to raise foreign exchange and reduce urban drift like Fiji is now doing.
The energy drink market is worth billions of dollars, yet in the developed world where people are stressed out with work and financial problems the market for a drinks that can make you relax would be far bigger than for an energy drink and this new process that gets rid of the kava taste and gives a kava kick to a beverage could be a gold mine if handled properly.
The problem is that aid donors are not enthusiastic about donating funds to what is considered a ‘drug’, irrespective of the fact that it can be used to relax and calm people down in the deveoped world. The Vanuatu government needs to get around this hurdle and pump funds into kava development before it is too late.
If the Vanuatu government continues to do nothing and take the industry backwards it could be the biggest economic mistake the country has ever made and literally cost the country billions of dollars in lost revenue.
It is time to wake up and take action before it is too late.
-Marc Neil - Jones