SUVA (Pacnews) — A regional approach is being taken to handle the kava ban currently threatening the kava export market for most Pacific Island countries.
According to the principal economic planning officer of Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture, Waisiki Gonemaituba, the Fiji government is concerned about the kava export issue.
“It is clear that export figures for kava have dropped,” he said.
Gonemaituba said that there was a meeting initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture early this year soon after the kava ban was imposed by European countries and the United States.
The ban was imposed after a German study linked the use of pharmaceutical kava tablets to liver disease.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the Kava Council, the World Health Organization, the Forum Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the University of the South Pacific and the Ministry of Agriculture.
A kava task force has been established at the Forum Secretariat to look into the matter.
According to the private sector advisor of the Forum Secretariat, Douglas McMillan, they have written to the regulatory authorities who have imposed the ban.
