The proposed regional standard for the use of Kava products as a beverage was discussed at the regional Codex Committee meeting in Vanuatu.

The proposed regional standard is to be applied to fresh or dried kava products that are used to prepare a beverage.

The standard does not apply for medicinal purposes.

It applies to our traditional Fijian way of drinking kava when mixed with water.

Deputy Secretary for Agriculture Development, Jone Sovalawa says the government recognizes kava as a crucial crop, with a huge domestic market and expanding export markets.

Sovalawa says a regional standard will add to the current effort by stakeholders in Fiji to access new markets.

Meanwhile kava producing countries in the Pacific consist of Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia and the island state of Hawaii in the United States.