Kava

[Harcourt]

Has anyone tried to grow or seen growing, kava? Piper methysticum. The traditionally male social and customary drink of the South Pacific.

I reckon it would do very well in Southern Thailand, and perhaps even in Central.

Possible markets are the pharmaceutical industries (for sleeping tonics "kavakava"), and of course there's always a chance that the local palate would enjoy a cheap, legal, mini-high (It's effects are subtle and mellow).

I used to grow a bit in Fiji.....it would be nice to have some around, and even nicer to produce it commercially.

[Harcourt]

From Wiki:

The kava shrub thrives in loose, well-drained soils where plenty of air reaches the roots. It grows naturally where rainfall is plentiful (over 2,000 mm/yr). Ideal growing conditions are 20 to 35 degrees Celsius (70 to 95 °F), and 70–100% relative humidity. Too much sunlight is harmful, especially in early growth, so kava is an understory crop.

Kava cannot reproduce sexually. Female flowers are especially rare and do not produce fruit even when hand-pollinated. Its propagation is entirely due to human efforts by the method of striking.

Traditionally, plants are harvested around 4 years of age, as older plants have higher concentrations of kavalactones. But in the past two decades farmers have been harvesting younger and younger plants, as young as 18 months. After reaching about 2 m height, plants grow a wider stalk and additional stalks, but not much taller. The roots can reach a depth of 60 cm.

[Harcourt]

Also from Wiki:

On 15 February 2006, the Fiji Times and Fiji Live reported that researchers at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and the Laboratoire de Biologie Moleculaire du Cancer in Luxembourg had discovered that kava may treat ovarian cancer and leukemia. Kava compounds inhibited the activation of a nuclear factor that led to the growth of cancer cells. The Aberdeen University researchers published in the journal The South Pacific Journal of Natural Science that kava methanol extracts had been shown to kill leukemia and ovarian cancer cells in test tubes.[15] The kava compounds were shown to target only cancerous cells; no healthy cells were harmed. This may help explain why kava consumption is correlated with decreased incidence of cancer.[16]

It may indeed be a cash crop of the future!