Tea farmers to earn less bonus as payments begin

Tea farmers allied to the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) will start receiving their pay next week amid anxiety over a decline in earnings.

KTDA chairperson Peter Kanyago has said that farmers will take home Sh62 billion in payments for their deliveries in the 2017/2018 financial year even as he prepared farmers for lower earnings.

Speaking at Ragati tea factory in Nyeri County, Kanyago added that tea farmers would start receiving bonus payments as from the end of this month, indicating that the bonus and initial payments amount to Sh62 billion.

The figure is a Sh5 billion increase from the previous year when farmers were paid Sh57 billion for their tea.

“We are ready to pay the bonus as from the end of this month and we hope that every farmer will have received payments by the end of October. We have made payments of Sh62 billion this financial year all together, as opposed to the previous year’s Sh57 billion,” he said.

However, farmers will pocket less than they did last year by Sh10 with the highest paying factory in the region paying farmers Sh52 for a kilogram of tea.

In Murang’a, Mungania Tea Factory has so far been rated the highest with a proposed payment of 52.10 compared to last year when it paid Sh61.

In the proposed payment, Nduti Tea Factory plans to pay Sh42.50 while last year it paid farmers Sh52.

Other tea factories such as Ngeere propose to pay Sh50.10, Ikumbi Sh47.20, Makomboki Sh48, Njunu Sh47.5, Gacharage 47.60 and Kiru Sh40.50.

In Nyeri, the best bonus rate is from Gitugi at Sh46, while Ragati, Chinga, Iriaini and Gathuthi will pay farmers Sh40, Sh41, Sh40, and Sh47 respectively.

Tea farmers in Zone Five, which comprises five factories in Kirinyaga County, will receive an average of Sh48 per kilo of the produce delivered as this year’s bonus payment.

"We have more tea this year and that has affected the prices especially in the months of April, May and June and that is why the bonus rates are slightly lower than last year’s. The bonus is determined by deducting the expenses from the revenue received,” he said.

Mr Kanyago expressed hopes the next financial year’s payments would be better, stating the rates are determined by the market.