EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH HIS EXCELLENCY ROY MICKEY JOY ON THE KAVA DOSSIER
by Jean-Baptiste CALO
Vanuatu Times: Your Excellency,you’ve been pushing the kava dossier for the last decade or so. And the Vanuatu government also through the ministry of trade and the ministry of foreign affairs has been repeatedly raising the kava issue during international meetings.
After the positive results of the Independent European Research team on kava, the German Federal Court has finally handed out its judgment in favour of the lift of the kava ban in Europe. And today Kava is recognised as an official product of the ACP group. Can you elaborate on that.
Vanuatu Ambassador to the EU, H.E. Roy Mickey Joy
We worked really hard with the EU to convince them to recognise the issue of Kava as an emergent commodity for Pacific Islands Kava producing countries.
On the one hand we have now secured through the ACP-EU technical balance to Trade BMU, a global some of 400 0000 Euros for the second study on Kava dynamics which is going to be launched in Brussels in the next few weeks.
The experts would be based in Vanuatu and they would cover Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Federate States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, the friends of Kava.
These are comprehensive studies.
On one hand , the study will be going to look at the current ban, the signs, the analysis done by the laboratory that is going to be recognised and authenticated.
And secondly, looking at the trade policy area, where to move the kava dossier from where we are in this point in time.
The expert who has spent more than 20 years in kava research. Dr Vincent Lebot will be part of consultancy team who will help the Pacific island countries to carry out that kava scientific study for a 7 months duration.
After the completion of the scientific research, a ministerial meeting will be convened here in Port-Vila Vanuatu. A meeting in which the global players and actors, the private sector, the exporters and the farmers will come together and decide on the new roadmap of the kava production and development in the Pacific.
We are going to work with national and regional organisations to agree on new mechanism for the pricing of kava as a commodity.
And thirdly, Vanuatu will have to use the base of the study to redefine the legislation of how kava should be consumed, used and utilised commercially in Vanuatu. So that we give back the level of ownership to our farmers, but largely we protect kava as a product of the people of this country.
Naturally and economically yes, we will see a relatively increase in Kava price locally and internationally.
The farmers will be paid the price due to them, exporters will be able to generate enough commercial benefits of kava. But lastly and importantly, the Vanuatu people through the government and through Parliament and through the farmers will be ale to administer, regulate and look at the scope of kava as a commodity that will take this country in the next 20 years.
There has never been so much work done over kava in the last 34 years until we came into the scene.
And this is one of the direct work of the embassy of Vanuatu in Brussels to take the Kava dossier to the global scene as it has never been seen before.
At the beginning of this year we made a submission to the ACP Secretariat in Brussels. The ACP Secretariat is at the moment reviewing and redefining the scope of its work on commodity programs.
For the last 30 years, ACP and EU have given so much attention to sugar through the sugar protocole, the cotton producing countries in Africa and bananas. Now I wish to confirm at this stage, kava from the Pacific region has now been accepted now has the fourth items in the whole ACP commodity program beginning in 2015-2020.
V.T.: What does that mean?
His Excellency R.M.J.: It means that while ACP and EU are trying to sort out their own fundings and program activities for the next few years, they will also be able to treat kava equally as they treat and give financial support to sugar and bananas in the Caribbean and cotton from 5 producing countries in West Africa.
So never before we’ve seen kava come to this stage.
The only challenge now is for our local industry in Vanuatu. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce , they need to come together to start organising themselves on the challenges that are going to come about as the result of these studies.
They need to play their part and be part of the entire process otherwise, we can have legislations and the work done, be if the industry is not prepared, we’ll not be able to fulfil the aspirations that are expected from this important work we’re doing outside.
My advise to the kava farmers is to plant more noble varieties of kava recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Chamber of Commerce. They should plant more because because when the increase of the kava prices comes, we’ll have an influx in the market.
I want to encourage the farmers to continue to plant even more kava, because the future is looking bright for them with how things are evolving now in regard to this commodity.
They should plant more to prepare for the openings that the EU and the world market outside will take into kava.
Kava is has special properties, it should not be abused. Kava is the future of this country. This country depends on kava.
I think it is high time that we, policy makers assist in preparing the enabling environment to facilitate trade and business in the kava trade.
I think the general economic trend would see a quiet large increase of the pricing of kava locally between the islands into the urban centres in Port-Vila and Luganville and also in the export market. The farmers will be able to make enough money out of their kava products for the first time. And we could also expect an increase of the kava price in the Nakamals (kava bars) in Port-Vila and Luganville.
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