Tribute: Death claims pioneer crusader of smallholder tea sector in Kenya

The former long serving Chairman of Kenya Tea Development Agency Holdings Ltd (KTDA) board Stephen Imanyara was a farmer, an entrepreneur and a leader who made immense contribution in the co-operative movement, tea and coffee industry.

He would however die aged 78.

His death after battling a long illness had robbed the nation of a man who to his death fought for the well-being of farmers and who was a little different from any farming man of our generation.

Like most people, I came to know Imanyara whilst in the tea sector where I served with him as a KTDA board director. He was to become one of my closest friends.

Mr Imanyara alongside the Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta, A.A. Lawrie, Douglas Penwell, Charles Karanja, George Kimani, Eric Kimani and Jackson Kamau are considered as the founding fathers of the smallholder tea sector in Kenya.

He is credited for saving tea from the fate of other cash crop sectors that had succumbed to political interference, like coffee.

On June 30, 2000, it is the great man from Meru land who directed the transition of the tea agency from a government institution, to a private company registered under the Companies Act.

KTDA, then a parastatal established under the Agriculture Act, had replaced the Special Crops Development Authority, which alongside tea also focused on other “special” crops such as coffee.

After the privatization of KTDA, I was elected alongside him in June 2000 to the new tea agency board as a director.

Like most us, Mr Imanyara believed that the cash crop was important in helping alleviate poverty; convictions that he held to his death serving as the Chairman of Imenti Tea Factory.

Through his leadership, KTDA teas have been lauded with a mark of distinction globally. It is under his leadership that the smallholder tea farmers under KTDA came to conquer the world.

Today, the Kenyan tea is the country’s major cash crop. It is transitioning from the colonial period when natives where not allowed to grow tea to the current state of being competitive in terms of quality and quantity in the world markets.

Among the measures which he oversaw included allowing managers and individual factories to run most of their operations and ensuring that management decisions were made at the factory level.

The result was that the model adopted by KTDA succeeded beyond expectations and has now become a case study on how to successfully manage commercial cash crops.

It’s during his tenure that KTDA opened up a parallel tea auction in Mombasa in efforts to shift influence from the London auction, ending up eliminating the cost of transportation of tea to London for auction.

This cost of transportation was borne by the producer.

“So KTDA together with the buyers, colluded to derail the London Auction and build the Mombasa Auction. Our desire to leave the London Auction was driven by the fact that it was very expensive to pay the brokers, pay for the warehousing as well as pay for the shipping of the tea to Britain,” Imanyara said in a past interview.

Interestingly, the Ministry of Agriculture opposed the move leading to a protracted battle with KTDA.

Imanyara being the fighter, kept on with the fight which resulted to the London Auction slowing down. What followed would be the end of an era in the global tea trade.

The Mombasa Tea Auction Centre was to become the second largest black tea auction centre in the world after Colombo in Sri-Lanka.

Quite innovative, KTDA’s first small hydro pilot project was commissioned in 2009 at Imenti Tea Factory. The project has reduced the factory’s electricity bill by about 60 per cent.

Away from the tea sector he inspired many people to take up leadership positions including Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi who describes him as one of the greatest men who influenced him.

In my long career in the tea sector, I never met a more straightforward person like him. He was honest, humble and a very friendly man.

As a former KTDA board member till my election as Governor of the County of Nyamira in 2013, I am honoured to have served alongside Mr Imanyara and witnessed the revolution of the tea sector in Kenya.

Death has robbed us of a great man.