“During a recent trip to Germany, I met with their top officials and I told them the claims were false. I told them I drink ava and I don’t have problems with my liver”
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Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, has dismissed a call from kava growers for the government to bring back the kava bonus scheme.
The idea is to revive interest in the industry to prepare Samoa for an anticipated boom in demand for the herb following the lifting of the kava ban in Germany.
During his weekly media session, Tuilaepa rejected the call.
Instead, he said if anybody wants to grow kava, they don’t need a bonus scheme to start.
“They don’t need a stimulus package to encourage them,” he said, adding that people should just take the initiative to plant the herb.
Last week, one of the biggest ava growers in the country, Mau’u Siaosi Pu’epu’emai, of Samamea Fagaloa, made a small plea to the government.
He urged them to put money where their mouth is to develop the industry into something that would benefit Samoa in the future.
The call followed a decision by a High Court in Germany to lift the nation’s 12-year ban on ava products. The decision opens an opportunity for famers in Samoa to once again pursue this revenue stream.
Mau’u said the government must urgently begin the process of encouraging ava farmers to get back into growing the crop.
“Now we have the market back on track, the question is do we have enough to supply the market,” he said. “The answer to this question depends on the growers and farmers.”
At the moment, Mau’u said there are not enough ava plants in Samoa if there is a sudden demand for ava products. It should not stay that way forever, though, Mau’u says.
“The only way that I think would be effective and would help the industry get back on its feet is for the government to offer a bonus for ava,” he says.
“We have a stimulus package for planting koko and coconuts. Why can’t we have one for the ava industry again?”
“There is a big market for us in Europe and if farmers are not assisted by the government, we would struggle and we will not be able to meet the needs of the market.”
Tuilaepa said the decision to lift the ban is encouraging. He said pharmaceutical companies who pushed to ban ava products felt threatened by the potential of the product.
“During a recent trip to Germany, I met with their top officials and I told them the claims were false,” he said. “I told them I drink ava and I don’t have problems with my liver.”
“They claimed that ava caused liver problems. This is not true. It is something that was created by these companies when they noticed that their profits would be affected by the ava.”
Tuilaepa added: “When you drink two cups of ava, you feel happy and strong.”
Referring to history, Tuilaepa said ava has been around for decades.
According to authors who wrote about the arrival of Captain Cook in Tonga, he said, they claim that the people who greeted him were drunk with ava and openly welcomed captain Cook.
“At that time, people of Tonga were cannibals and when Captain Cook arrived it is believed that the people (of Tonga) had an ava ceremony and felt drunk so when they saw Captain Cook they kissed him and Captain Cook then wrote down and named them the Friendly Island.”
Tuilaepa reiterated that ava is a good drink that makes people happy and strong.
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