6 Mar 2017

Severe kava shortage in parts of Fiji

From Pacific Waves, 4:04 pm on 6 March 2017

A difficult year for growers and skyrocketing prices have led to a severe shortage of kava in many parts of Fiji.

The category five Cyclone Winston a year ago destroyed a majority of the country's kava crop, and farmers have struggled with regular flooding since.

The chair of the Fiji kava council, Rupeni Koro, says that has severely limited supplies of the popular root sedative, and the country is struggling to keep up with demand.

He told Jamie Tahana that some markets have stopped selling kava, and where it is available, it now costs in excess of US$40 a kilogram - a 76 percent increase.

Every kava grower on Taveuni has their kava out drying after Cyclone Winston Photo: Alex Perrottet/RNZ

Transcript

RUPENI KORO: Right now we're paying (FJ)$85 - $100 a kilo.

JAMIE TAHANA: How much is it normally?

RK: Before it used to be $20 - $30. Not more than that.

JT: What's caused kava to become so expensive recently?

RK: I think the cost of the kava is high because of the shortage of kava in Fiji and there is a lot of demand from overseas.

JT: There was Cyclone Winston a year ago and there's been a fair bit of flooding in the past year as well. Has this affected farmers and the kava supply in Fiji?

RK: Yes. That's the main input. Why the kava is so short in Fiji.

JT: How much has this affected the kava supply in Fiji? How short are farmers of crops?

RK: It maybe take a year to finish all the kava, then we might wait for another two, three years.

JT: So it could be two, three years until kava supplies return to normal?

RK: Yes.

JT: Is there enough kava to last for the next two, three years or does Fiji have to look at importing?

RK: Right now they are importing kava from Vanuatu and they are mixing with the local and exported to meet the demand. They have a lot of kava in Vanuatu, and some of it we can export, but the other they call two day kava and we're not allowed to sell that in the markets.

JT: What's being done by kava sellers at the moment? I mean the price has gone up but there's still a demand for it. How are you meeting this?

RK: Well a lot of local markets selling kava have closed now. There's only the exporters who are buying at a very high price and they're exporting kava because the kava is not good enough to sell in Fiji, so they export.

JT: OK so exporters are getting in first for whatever kava's remaining.

RK: Yes, most of the market vendors don't sell kava because they don't have kava right now because the kava price is too high.