It may not be long before consumers can buy a bottled kava drink, pure extract or fresh frozen kava. Kava conference
sees export opportunitiesSouth Pacific islands ship out
about 500 metric tons each yearBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com"We're keeping natural products of the traditional beverage," said Dr. Vincent Lebot of the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development in Port Vila, Republic of Vanuatu.
He said pure extract and frozen kava liquid already are being shipped to New Zealand and Hong Kong from the South Pacific.
"This is what the future will be for most Pacific Islands, to put kava in a bottle and export it," he said, pointing out it is a root crop that can be squeezed for juice the same as any vegetable.
Lebot was among mainland and South Pacific officials discussing the kava consumption and research at a conference yesterday at the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources in Hilo.
He emphasized in an interview that the debate over kava use and possible liver damage the past couple years "is a major misunderstanding. Different people are not talking about the same things."
Lebot said kava, or 'awa as it is known in Hawaii, is a traditional beverage, with no evidence of any toxicity or liver damage after thousands of years of consumption in the South Pacific.
Reports last year linking kava use to liver damage in Europe involve pharmaceutical companies that extract compounds and present them as herbal supplements, pills and capsules, he said.
"We are quite upset to see the reputation of kava damaged because these European companies are misusing the word 'kava.' The word 'kava' refers to the traditional beverage, not compounds extracted and presented in different forms.
"We believe what's going on in Europe is due to the manufacture process. ... We're dealing with a completely different product."
The kava plant is a member of the pepper family and is used throughout the South Pacific as a ceremonial drink and to relieve stress, anxiety and insomnia. It hit the market in pill form about two years ago.
Lebot said Vanuatu exports about 500 metric tons of kava annually to New Caledonia, which has more than 200 kava bars, Australia and New Zealand and some to the U.S. West coast for recreational drinking.
The industry is valued at more than $25 million for five producing South Pacific nations (excluding Hawaii), he said.
At the height of the industry in Hawaii, more than 30,000 dry pounds of kava per month were being shipped to Europe, mostly from the Big Island, said Edward Johnston, a Big Island 'awa grower with the nonprofit Association for Hawaiian Kava.
That stopped about two or three months ago with warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about possible liver damage from kava use, he said.
Johnston said Hawaii farmers that sell to kava bars aren't having a problem and those selling over the Internet are doing quite well.
"We want a product that can last longer, that you can buy like a bottle of orange juice and drink it for relaxation, a good night's sleep and all the benefits of the traditional 'awa beverage," he said.
Some kava farmers and Kulana Ki'i 'Awa Farm, opening a kava bar in Hilo, are looking into state health regulations regarding possible methods of preserving and keeping the juice in liquid form after it is pasteurized, Johnston said.
The conference yesterday was sponsored by the Association for Hawaiian 'Awa, the UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and the Kulana Ki'i 'Awa Farm.