Rigathi Gachagu: Tea farmers to expect higher bonuses this year

 

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua engaging KTDA Directors at his residence in Karen on Wednesday, September 27.[PCS]

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua says that tea farmers in the country should expect better earnings this year.

In a statement on his official X account on Wednesday, September 27, the DP said that this year's pay will be the highest earning recorded in recent years as the reforms adopted are bearing fruits.

“The comprehensive reforms we are rolling out in the tea sub-sector are bearing fruit as farmers will receive higher bonuses this year,” said Gachagua.

His statement comes two months after he oversaw the implementation of reforms proposed by tea farmers in efforts to improve the tea sector.

Among the reforms adopted was tea tasting to be done through scientific methods instead of the previously used method where tasters used their tongues.

According to the farmers, buyers would easily disqualify good tea if it did not taste well.

Another reform was the elimination of middlemen when it came to selling of tea which saw farmers earn peanuts despite their huge contribution in the tea sector.

In the coming days, Gachagua says farmers will earn according to their contribution in terms of their yields as the government is expecting over ten per cent increase in revenue from tea export.

Despite the good reviews from the tea sector, their counterparts in the coffee sector are still struggling.

This is after Gachagua on Tuesday, September 26 expressed frustrations in frustrations in his mission to dislodge the lucrative coffee industry from profiteers he has labelled cartels.

The DP said the coffee industry is a hard nut to crack as cartels have infiltrated government offices making it hard for the reforms put in place to be adopted.

“We have been defeated, not because we are lazy or because we have failed to work but because the cartels are too entrenched in that sector. There are about three to four cartels who are well organized,” said the Deputy President.

According to Gachagua, the cartels are taking the biggest share of the farmers’ produce in the name of grading but exporting the produce without grading.

This results in losses which the exporters claim to be 35 per cent of the total sales thus paying farmers peanuts.

Gachagua however believes that he can still transform the coffee sector as he did in the tea and dairy sector.