Many kava consumers or maybe all still complain today about the high price of kava.
Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston sure did a lot of damage as far as agriculture is concerned, the damage totalling more than $200m.
However for some lucky farmers, whose farms did not feel the brunt of the monstrous Category 5 cyclone, they have been termed as sitting on a pot of gold.
Because the demand for the traditional drink is so high and the market cannot meet the demand, the price of yaqona has skyrocketed that in the village, farmers are not letting this go to waste.
On Gau Island, villagers have formed farming groups known as veilalavi on Gau. It is the communal way of living that was once practised by their forefathers. A system where everybody looks out for one another and where sharing was a norm in the battle for survival.
Farming out of poverty is the main aim for these farmers. Their aim is to uplift and develop their lives, their families and their villages. These farmers have set a five-year plan of what needs to be achieved at the end of the fifth year.
Nawaikama Village headman Vetaia Tuisinu said before their yaqona was bought a relatively low price but they had to go with it because it was their source of living.
Before Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston waka was being bought as low as $25, lewena as low as $15 and the cut pieces down to as low as $5. Now because of the scarcity of the traditional drink, the middlemen are buying yaqona from farmers with waka prices ranging from $70-$80, lewena from $30-$40 and cut pieces from $15-$20.
When a team from this newspaper visited the village, Mr Tuisini said a young farmer had just uprooted about 50 yaqona plants and was paid $15,000.
“We have a few other farmers who have earned a lot more than that and in the next few years we hope to get that kind of money or even more.
“Many are complaining about the price of yaqona, but us the farmers we really like it.”
In a day the farming group will work on a farm for an hour before moving to another farm. Work done on a particular farm is entirely up to the owner of the farm, this can include clearing, weeding, ploughing or planting.
At Nukuloa Village, 19 village men make up the working group.
“We plan that by the end of five years during harvesting every young man will have a house built and then we have our other individual plans,” said Samuela Tokakece.
Yaqona farming is not an easy task. Farmers must make sure that while looking after their yaqona farm they also have to plant root crops and vegetables for daily consumption.
A yaqona plant usually takes four years to marture, the work leading to establishing a yaqona farm is tiring. Primarily yaqona needs rich soil, that is why the farms are usually located further inland because farmers look for virgin soil, or farms that have been replanted at least twice.
First the clearing of the land, which includes the cutting down of huge trees, weeding, then ploughing and planting of the yaqona cuttings. The mounds are then usually covered with dry grass and leaves to avoid destruction by the heat emitted by the sun’s rays. A stick about three to four feet is planted on the side of the plot to alert others to the location of the mound or buke so no one steps on it.
If all goes as planned it takes about one month for the new plant to sprout out of the ground; the area around the plant must be kept clean.
For many farmers they have to endure sleeping in makeshift shelters near the farm, braving the cold and chilly conditions, working under the hot sun, risking their lives by scaling up and down steep mountains to travel to and from the farm.
Once mature, the plant is then uprooted, cut and washed before being put out in the sun to dry. It takes about four fine days without any rain for the yaqona to be ready for the market.
