I am looking at the drying process and was wondering if there were any producers or people who know producers who can tell me how much product is lost due to mold or something similar during their drying process, is rain a big problem?
For farmers producing for the local market, little is lost to mould, mainly because once the kava is ground into a powder, the mould isn't visible. This type of low-quality kava is only sold in local markets of course, and not exported.
However, that's not to say that rain isn't a problem. Kava production drops significantly in the wet season because many farmers hold off for dryer weather.
In the past, Fiji had a thriving copra industry. Copra is dried in wood-fired driers, and these dryers were common throughout the northern part of Fiji. When there was too much rain, kava was dried in these driers. However, the copra industry has declined significantly and these driers are now a rare sight.
You can get an idea of what a copra drier looks like between the 30sec and 60sec mark in this video:
The problem with these driers is that the kava acquires an unpleasant smokey flavour and aroma.