The Agriculture Ministry says it may take at least 2 more years for the price of Kava to come down.
The hike in price is due to high demand in the market.
Price of kava is now as much as one hundred dollars per kilogram.
Agriculture Ministry says kava drinkers will continue to fork out this much for at least 2 more years before the price may normalize.
” The issue here is the availability of planting materials also. It is not only that the damaged crop is harvested, but even the planting material was also destroyed. So it’s just the planting material is not available. We will work within what is available,” said Mr. Uraia Waibuta, the Deputy Secretary Agriculture Development.
Fiji is now importing kava from Vanuatu to cater for the shortage.
However it’s not only here in Fiji, high demand of kava has become a global trend.
” The ban has been lifted, so now it’s back to open market and people will just take advantage of that. The consumption of kava has increased in the United States too”
The Ministry is working on rapid multiplication of planting materials to ensure supply gets back to normal as soon as possible.
“We have some technology on this such as tissue cultured material on rapid multiplication of kava plants. Establishment of some of these nurseries, one is here at Koronivia Research Station”
Waibuta says high price of kava can also lead people to search for its other alternatives.