Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe says the government is investing in upgrading tea factories and marketing local tea in order to push for its position in the global market.
Kagwe said Kenyan tea has not hit many international markets due to poor product feasibility, adding that the new approach target to explore new markets in Europe and other global regions.
To realize the market agenda, the CS urged Kenyan tea farmers to adhere to the recommended tea quality of the crop to compete and meet the international market.
Speaking at Kapsara tea factory in Trans Nzoia County when he handed a cheque worth sh 44.6 million for modernization of the facility, Kagwe said the government is investing in modernizing local factories and branding the local tea to attract better prices at the globally market
“We have 8000 tea farmers and the tea sector support directly and indirectly about 6.5 million Kenyans.This is why the government is investing and exploring markets for the crop globally,” he said.
Kagwe accompanied by the Kenya Tea Board Chief Executive officer Willy Mutai and Trans Nzoia County executive member of Agriculture Phanice Khatundi, said the government is injecting sh 7.1 billion to modernize factories across the country.
The upgrading of the factories, he said is set to reduce power and improve efficiency.
The grant to Kapsara factory will help in the installation of new withering machines to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of power.
“The money is purposely for that the installation of new withering machine and not other business". He warned.
The CS challenged tea farmers to harvest the recommended tea leaves to encourage quality tea produced.
“Going against the recommended the number of tea leaves to be harvested affects quality and returns. The factory should reject farmers not adhering to the right quality” he said.
He told factories to embrace value additions to increase prices and returns to the farmers.
At the same time, Kagwe urged Kenyans to embrace diversification to mitigate effects of crop failure and poor prices.
He lauded former Cherangany MP Wesley Korir for his efforts to explore tea markets fot local farmers.
Korir said they are seeking approval of a permit for direct export of the tea from Trans-Nzoia to maximize returns.
" For many years tea farmers in the area have suffered due to poor returns and we have agreed to look for a permit to enable us directly export our tea to international markets," he said.
Farmers appealed to the CS to intervene over poor tea prices and delayed delivery of fertilizer.
They lamented that poor prices and cartels in the sector is hurting their farming activities.
"Despite our efforts to double production, poor prices, delayed fertilizer delivery and cartels is frustrating us," said Elizabeth Odour, the chairperson of Kapsara tea factory.
Delayed supply of fertilizers, the farmers said compromised quality and quantity of tea production and called for timely supply of the fertilizer to boost production.
"There is frequent delay in fertilizer delivery and this hinder quality and quantity of our tea," said Allan Kamau.
The farmers also asked the state to address the issue of unstable bonus saying the returns were not encouraging.
They accused brokers of encouraging the theft of tea and asked the state for protection.
"Middlemen buying tea cheaply have promoted theft of the crop and we are appealing to the government to intervene," said farmers.
