Farmer education transforming Kenya'a tea sector

Creating a sustainable yet profitable agricultural sector in Kenya has been one of the major challenges facing the country for decades. More advanced economies with much less fertile lands than Kenya have managed to feed their vast economies, and export the surplus, by investing in specialised training and education for their farmers.

Since the post-independence years up to the late 90s, providing extension services or training for small-scale tea farmers had been the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture, through the then Kenya Tea Development Authority. The ministry seconded extension staff to the Authority to carry out training of tea farmers on husbandry practices.