Moana Kava
Malo and thanks for checking out our blog post on Moana Kava which will include a tour of their farm virtually via Zoom on Friday 25th September and a video will be uploaded below.
Moana Kava which was previously called Moana Enterprise back in 2014, is the making of native born Taufa Vaha Kioa. Belonging to the village, Mr Kioa established himself as one of Vavau renown farmers in a short period of time.
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Becoming the largest private holder of Kava in eastern Vava'u Islands and Tonga 2016,
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Largest producer of pineapples 2018 [- current, all of Tonga.
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3rd largest Kava holder in 2015-16 in all of Tonga in both private and larger institutional bodies such as SST College and Chinese exporters
All this was achieved in a period of 4 years. Other notable achievements are below.
Taufa Kioa (Owner and founder of Moana Enterprise) is a 3 time winner of Tonga agricultural Show:
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Mix farming (Vanilla, Pineapple, Kava, Yams) of the Royal Agriculture show in Vavau Islands during the 80's.
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1st Price in Vavau Royal Agriculture show Vanilla Drying, Vanilla sowing and packaging 1980-81.
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2018 Vavau Royal Agricultural Show winner, Best de-weeded plantation and Best pineapple plantation.
After Taufa Vaha Kioa's passing in July of 2018, his son Sefita Kioa now takes the reign of the family company looking to grow and transform Moana Malie Tau He Lotu.
Now reforming as Moana Malie Tau He Lotu (MLTHL), Moana is looking to the future. MLTHL is the Chiefly name of Taufa Vaha Kioa
I've personally dealt with the brothers Politoni and Sefita Kioa on a business and personal level and can't speak highly enough of their drive and commitment to improve the reputation of Vava'u Kava as well as use kava as a means to support their family and people. In the kava business especially in the South Pacific it doesn't follow general business principles, but thankfully with the Tongan brothers connection back to Australia they are two people you can rely on to do what they say they are going to do and grow your business alongside knowing that there is a basic understanding of business best practices and respect.
You can find their social channels below and they also have their own @moanakavatalk talanoa sessions on instagram.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoanaKavaAustralia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moana_kava/
Website: https://moanakava.com.au/
Sefita is the driving force behind the first Tongan Kava Society which will represent the kava farmers with the ambition to improve their quality of kava, preserve it's intrinsic Tongan identify and tell it's rich story, on a global scale.
Below is a video from a Zoom session we set up to help with connecting them with overseas importers of Tongan Kava to assist with the development of their constitution.
