Vanuatu to revisit statement on protecting Pacific kava

June 9, 2025 9:56 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook

By Kizzy Kalsakau & Anita Roberts.

Director General (DG) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry and Biosecurity (MALBF), Timothy Tumukon, has clarified Vanuatu’s position on safeguarding the names kava within the region, following a side event during the 4th Pacific Week of Agriculture and Forestry (PWAF) in Tonga.

Chairman of the Regional Kava Strategic Working Group said an article carried in the Daily Post claiming Vanuatu strongly pushed back on restricting the export of kava for extraction is incorrect.

“I chaired the meeting, and the resolution was that Vanuatu was not comfortable with the wording of the statement drafted by Tonga. We (Vanuatu) want to review it, and propose a wording we’re comfortable with before July 16. Fiji shares the same position,” he explained.

Tumukon said the meeting discussed how to roll out the Regional Kava Strategic Plan, and one key point was to make a regional statement that kava comes from the Pacific and anything grown outside the region is not kava.

“We want to make this statement because the U.S. has made a new lab-grown kava variety and wants to call it kava. We also found that our genetic materials were taken to Asia and south America and they want to use the name too. But kava is originated from seven countries in the Pacific and is defined by the Codex Alimentarius as a drink made by mixing the plant with water,” he said.

“We do not discourage the use of kava to develop extracts. Any extracts made from kava will not be called kava, as the term has a different meaning under the Codex Alimentarius. We want to protect kava because it is a genuine product deeply tied to our culture and ceremonies, as Tonga has rightly said.”

The Chairman of the Regional Kava Strategic Working Group said while scientific research points to kava originating from Vanuatu, he prefers the name “kava” to remain associated with all seven kava-producing countries.

Vanuatu has its own Kava legislation since 2002. 

However, the DG stressed that the government must pass the Geographical Indication Law quickly to protect Vanuatu’s kava industry from competition with its neighbors and other countries.

He said some Vanuatu kava varieties have already been copyrighted by companies in the U.S., which impacts global business and trade.