Noni industry grows, gets nod from lawmakers

HONOLULU — For centuries, residents of the South Pacific have used the noni plant to treat a host of ills, from breathing problems to aches and pains.

Now some farmers and business developers are looking to this traditional healing plant to expand Hawaii's agricultural market.

But what sounds like an obscure niche market is actually big business.

In eight years, Utah-based Tahitian Noni International has expanded to sell noni products across the globe, reporting $500 million in sales last year alone.

"We've also spawned an industry. There are probably 250 companies around the world that make noni products," said Andre Peterson, spokesman for the company that uses noni plants grown in French Polynesia.

Just about every part of the noni plant has some claimed medicinal properties. But the most popular form is the distinctive-tasting — some even say "nasty" — juice of the noni plant's odd-looking, whitish fruit.

The noni industry in Hawaii is just beginning to take off, said Spencer Kamauoha, vice president of the Kamauoha Foundation, which promotes economic development on Oahu.

In 2003, the foundation was awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Administration for Native Americans to develop an 80-acre noni farm in Waialua and a fruit processing plant at Wahiawa. Those funds just began to flow this fall.

And last month, the foundation was notified that it would be getting another $84,000 from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and $75,000 from Honolulu's community investment fund, Kamauoha said.

The project got another boost after supporters discovered 22 small farmers on the Big Island who were growing the plants and needed a processor.

Kamauoha Farms now receives 16,000 pounds of the fruit from Hilo each week and just opened a collection warehouse in Kona for local farmers.

While it ships most of its product to a distributor on the mainland, the company plans next month to put its own brand of noni fruit juice on shelves, labeling it North Shore Noni.

"So what I think needs to be developed, too, is the Hawaii brand and the Hawaii source as a source of noni in its own right," Kamauoha said.

That idea has caught the attention of House Speaker Calvin Say and Rep. Helene Hale, who co-sponsored a resolution in support of the local noni industry.