Tea farmers accuse KTDA of delayed fertiliser supply

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By Patrick Muriungi

Tea farmers from Meru have accused the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) over delayed supply of fertiliser. They said this had affected their harvests for this season.

The farmers from Nyambene, Meru South, Meru Central and Imenti South Districts where high quality tea is produced yesterday said the delay in distributing the compound fertiliser for top dressing had reduced production and also affected the quality of the crop.

The farmers said they expected to be supplied with fertiliser during the current wet season. "We expected to be supplied with the fertiliser around January when we placed the order to KTDA. Since then, nothing has been supplied, yet we are being deducted money from our pay slips for the same," said a farmer, Mr Zaverio Mwamba.

The farmers are being deducted Sh1.50 per kilogramme of green leaves for fertiliser by their respective tea companies, yet there has been no supply of the commodity. They said KTDA had given them a row deal.

A 50 kg bag of compound fertiliser was to cost the farmers Sh2,200, and the concerned tea companies have pledged to refund the money deducted from the distraught farmers’ pay slips if the supply fails altogether. The farmers joined their Murang’a counterparts who have also raised the issue with KTDA.

Imenti South District produces the bulk of the top quality tea in the Meru region and has three tea companies, Kionyo, Kinoro and Imenti. The national chairman of the KTDA, Mr Mutai Imanyara who is a large scale tea farmer hails from the area.