Vanuatu is a sleepy Melanesian country in the South Pacific, located just west of Fiji, and north of New Zealand. Vanuatu exemplifies the typical South Pacific LDC, in that it is rich in idyllic surroundings, but lacking in large natural resources. Vanuatu’s micro economy is driven by tourism, offshore investment, and fortunately for ni-vanuatu (the name of indigenous Vanuatu locals) KAVA!
Most Vanuatu island communities/villages grow kava plants. Families within each village grow kava crops on their “kastom” (custom) land and every 4-6 years harvest their crops. Generally, middlemen, or “kava brokers” normally tied in with the area of the island the village is in, buy kava and then on sell it to kava dealers on the main islands of Vanuatu: Efate and Santo. The kava dealers then either sell the kava to kava bars in the capitals of these islands; Port Vila and Luganville or sell it on to kava exporters.
This micro economic process allows for monies to flow back to the villages so they can afford school fees, gas and other basic necessities. However, due to the multi tiered steps and various kava brokers, the growers of the kava are often left only being paid a relatively small amount for their kava.
We at Vanuatu Kava Bar/Kava Terra don’t begrudge the various players in the Kava industry their chance to make a living, nor do we resent the fact that they facilitate monies flowing back to village level. However, we cut out the middlemen in the process and import directly from dealers that direct-purchase from specific villages to obtain our kava. We admittedly pay an above average price when we buy Vanuatu kava, certainly more than what the middlemen negotiate, but in the big scheme of things, the difference in price is negligible by the time it gets into a coconut shell in the US, and we feel good knowing that our process sends more money back into the villages we deal with. Additionally, it gives us a consistent, reliable source of kava, as we know the cultivar, the village, and the plot of land our kava is grown on – a benefit you cannot achieve through a broker that shops around, village to village, simply for a better price.
We also know that we get the freshest kava straight from the source… instead of risking the possibility of getting kava that may have been sitting in warehouses for months…. Much of the time, our large orders are not even harvested and dried until we give the go-ahead! Thus, another benefit of shopping with us and drinking our kava: you probably can’t get fresher kava than what we source from Vanuatu, unless you are drinking at a nakamal that is actually in Vanuatu!
Another benefit in drinking Vanuatu kava is that you know it is organic. Vanuatu law stipulates that only noble drinking varieties that are grown organically are allowed to be exported for consumptive use. Thus, there is no need to pay higher prices for “organic certification” on our kava. We KNOW our kava is organic, because we know how and where it is grown, and the laws of that nation we obtain it from guarantee it! Why pay more for organic, fair-trade-certified kava when getting kava from Vanuatu in and of itself makes it so?
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