Asia Times: All worked up over kava



	January 08, 1999	atimes.com

Oceania

All worked up over kava
By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY - The kava plant is the base ingredient in arelaxing traditional drink from the South Pacific, but these daysit has made officials and activists in the region rather agitated.

More to the point, increasing outsider interest in the SouthPacific cash crop-cum-cultural item has made small island nationsworried that traditional knowledge about kava is being stolen fromunder their noses.

Thus, the region's islands formed a Pacific Kava Council (PKC)at the second Kava Symposium organised last October by theSouth Pacific Forum (SPF) secretariat in Suva, Fiji.

SPF officials say the council aims to protect the tiny islandnations' intellectual and financial interests regarding kava.

For centuries, South Pacific islanders have mashed the kavaroot and stem into a pulp, mixing it with either coconut milk orwater. After fermentation, the elixir is ready to drink. Mildlyintoxicating and known to have a sedative effect, kava tonic is astaple in many island ceremonies and other social gatherings.

Until several years ago, kava was relatively unknown outsidethe South Pacific.

But then Western pharmaceutical companies and makers of herbalmedicine got wind of kava's apparent soothing abilities. They weresoon buying kava in large quantities to use in stress-relievingpills and tonics.

Some even set up kava plantations in Central America usingplants imported from the South Pacific.

The island nations say they welcome the use of the kava plantin Western medicine, but want to benefit from this contribution.

Governments in the region say that because they haveintellectual property rights to kava's relaxing qualities, theyare entitled to obtain maximum monetary benefits from the plant'scommercial uses.

''Now that kava has become a real source of income, someone inthe islands who has land and grows 1,000 kava plants is a richman,'' observes Vanuatu kava exporter Charles Long Wah.

Edgar Cocker, marketing officer of the SPF trade and investmentdivision, denies PKC aims to form a cartel. He says the new bodywill be working on patent issues, although he concedes that thiswill be difficult because ''it is no longer a new development''.

''In relation to IPR issue, we will approach differently bypatenting the chemical and genetic properties of each variety,''says Cocker. ''The approach will be on identification of chemicalcharacteristics, genetic heritage and morphotypes."

Among the region's top kava producers are Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga,Samoa and Micronesia. The kava industry employs thousands ofworkers in the island nations and is a major source of exportrevenue for most of them.

Says Fijian economist Reg Sanday: ''The kava industry is ofconsiderable importance to the economic development of thesecountries, because of village-level activity in the cultivationand harvesting of the kava plant."

The PKC will be working closely with the Suva-based Universityof the South Pacific in doing chemical analysis regularly. Thegroup's aims include the recognition of kava chromotypes, chemotypes and gene types in an effort to protect South Pacific rightsto kava on a global scale.

A user guide will also be developed and distributed to growersand exporters.

South Pacific islands face a number of constraints on thegrowth of the industry, such as availability of planting material,understanding of proper cropping techniques, quality standards,poor handling procedures and price fluctuations.

They are also worried about the potential competition from thenewly established kava plantations in Central America.

''One of the council's main roles is to disseminate technicaland marketing information regularly and timely,'' says Cocker,adding that they will need to ensure that South Pacific exportersare not undercutting each other in terms of price, quality andmarket specifications.

According to Cocker, overseas buyers now are pitting exportersfrom one country against those from another kava-producing nationas a bargaining tactic.

''At the moment there is really no legal means to protectgrowing in other regions,'' the SPF officer notes. ''Exporting ofkava planting material from producing countries is now banned allover."

Roxanna Naylor, owner of the Vanuatu-based US firm KavaKompany, argues that rather than worrying about IPR issues, SouthPacific countries must try to increase their kava output lest theyfail to have enough kava to fulfill U.S. market potential.

Last year, Kava Kompany -- which works with a U.S. laboratory --introduced 10 kava-based products to the U.S. market. Theseinclude a drink called Mellow Out, a blend of kava and a Chineseherb, sold at 90 dollars a litre.

A capsule called 'Kavatrol', advertised in airline magazines asa remedy for jet lag, is sold in the United States at nine dollarsper packet of 30. Then there is 'Erotikava', advertised in adultmagazines as a tonic to be taken after dinner ''preferably in acandle-lit room with soft music''.

German, Japanese and U.S. companies are also believed to beplanning to market kava tablets in South-east Asia as stress-relief capsules.

Western Samoan environmentalist Chris Peteru suggests that theterm ''kava'' should be patented, similar to Coca-Cola.

''Coca-Cola says the name (and the formula) is ours and no onecan use it,'' Peteru says. ''Kava should be patented in a similarway to Coke, so that only the Pacific Island countries as a groupcan use the name kava to market their products internationally."

(Inter Press Service)