“ The one-day kava workshop was organised by Dr Apo Aporosa of the University of Waikato and doctoral scholars and researchers Daniel Henandez and Zbigniew Dumienski of the University of Auckland and Edmond Fehoko of Auckland University of Technology and held at the University of Waikato at Hamilton in Aotearoa New Zealand on Friday 21 April, 2017.
A dominant drain of thought reflected upon was necessarily the need to adopt a total rather than a partial approach to the matter of kava. This was reflected in the multiplicity of truly complex but exciting and worthwhile issues across the physical, psychological and social which were made up of a variety of well researched and documented papers presented by academics, practitioners and consumers of kava.
Another common sentiment was the expressed need for coordination over fragmentation of research, involving the rigorous raising of problems and not the uncritical presentation of solutions, where real solutions to actual problems can be found. This is in view of the ongoing largely subjectively manufactured controversies hanging over kava, as in the health issues relating to its multipurpose consumption amidst many others.
The highlighting of the economic potential of kava was also a subject matter of some critical discussion. As far as this potentiality goes, a way out for the Moana Pacific would be to rise above the subsistence production for local customary consumption to upscale production with a sense of creativity and innovation for global consumption. This will certainly make kava a truly competitive local Moana Pacific product.
The need for in-depth research involving kava in its multifarious dimensions -- not to mention it being a real product of huge economic significance -- is a partnership between Moana Pacific and other interested academics -- such as the workshop organisers as leading researchers in the field -- and Moana Pacific governments -- all for a unified purpose and the common good of all! ”