Kava Is Going Global — But at What Cost to the Pacific?

Kava is a root drink shared across the Pacific for more than 2,000 years. It is used in ceremonies, storytelling, and community gatherings in places like Tonga, Fiji, and Vanuatu. Now, kava is being sold in the United States and Australia as pills, energy shots, and mocktails. Pacific leaders and health experts are asking: when kava is changed that much, is it still really kava?

Fe'iloakitau Kaho Tevi leads Tonga's National Kava Committee. He says students who studied at the University of the South Pacific tried kava there, then brought the habit home to islands like Kiribati and Tuvalu. Those islands don't grow kava, so they now import large amounts of it. This has helped push demand — and prices — to record highs across the Pacific.

In the United States, there are now about 400 kava bars, and some Americans have started growing kava on the mainland. Tevi says the Pacific diaspora — islanders living abroad — has kept traditional kava practices alive overseas. Research shows that sharing kava in a group setting does more for mental health than drinking it alone. The social connection around kava, not just the drink itself, is what helps people feel better.

Kava has become one of the most valuable crops for Pacific farmers. In Fiji and Tonga, prices have doubled or tripled in just 18 months, and a single plant can be worth thousands of dollars. Because of this surge in value, kava theft has become a serious problem in several countries. Some businesses are now tracking where kava comes from to stop theft and fraud.

The farming boom has also brought new risks. Many farmers switched to monocropping — growing only kava with no other plants mixed in — to meet demand. This has made kava vulnerable to a disease called dieback, which can wipe out 40 to 60 percent of plants within a single week. Tevi says farmers must return to intercropping, growing kava alongside other plants, to slow the disease's spread.

Climate change is making things even harder for kava farmers. Kava needs rain, sunlight, humidity, and shelter to thrive, and any disruption can slow its growth. During the last El Niño event, kava prices climbed past $200 per kilogram. Cyclones have also battered farms across Fiji, Tonga, and Vanuatu, killing plants and lowering the quality of whatever kava remains.

Dr. Apo Aporosa is a Pacific Health expert at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, and he has studied kava for decades. He argues that kava is not just a plant or a beverage — it is a practice built on values, respect, and community. When companies pull out kava's active chemicals and put them in a pill, they miss what kava truly is. He says most fears about kava are based on misinformation, not on good science.

Studies show that kava, prepared the traditional way, is very safe. The World Health Organisation called its risk level acceptable, and one study rated it safer than common pain relievers. In a major Australian study, alcohol scored 77 harm points on a danger scale while kava scored just three. Yet kava remains restricted in Australia, while alcohol is sold everywhere.

A bigger worry is what happens when kava extracts are mixed with other substances. In the U.S., some gas-station products combine kava ingredients with kratom, a plant linked to serious health problems and deaths. Dr. Aporosa is alarmed that these dangerous products use the word 'kava,' spreading false ideas about what real kava is. He also worries about kava being drunk without any cultural traditions in places like Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

Pacific leaders recently backed a Kava Declaration at a Pacific Islands Forum meeting. It calls for protecting kava as a Pacific cultural and economic asset through official labels called geographical indications. However, a U.S. organisation has already applied to certify mainland-grown kava as 'Pacific Kava Certified,' which Pacific advocates say defeats the purpose of the declaration. Dr. Aporosa says innovation is fine, but products that don't match traditional kava should not carry the kava name — because getting that wrong could cause another damaging export ban like the one in the early 2000s.