Tea farmers affiliated to Ngere tea factory in Murang’a county have asked the government to release funds set aside for subsidised fertiliser.
The farmers, who spoke during an annual general meeting held on Friday, complained that factories have continued to accumulate debts following pledges by the government to support them.
Last month, Agriculture PS Paul Ronoh said the government had allocated Sh2 billion to provide subsidised fertilisers to tea farmers through the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA).
This followed a notice issued byKTDA indicating that farmers would be charged Sh3,400 for a 50kg bag of fertiliser.
The funds, the PS said, would ensure the charges were retained at Sh2,500, making the 97,000 tonnes of fertilisers imported by KTDA easily accessible to farmers.
But the farmers said the government did not release the funds, plunging factories into debts.
“They keep giving us empty promises. They are untruthful. Year after year they talk about the subsidised fertiliser but we have not seen it,” Felix Mwangi said.
The farmer said unfulfilled pledges to have the fertiliser costs reduced throws the sector into disarray and the government should allow factories to make their usual arrangements with farmers.
“If they can’t provide it to us, let them stop telling us about it instead of giving us false hopes,” Mwangi added.
Farmer Johnson Maina said it was unfair for tea farmers to be charged Sh3,400 for a bag of fertiliser while other sectors were accessing cheaper inputs.
The high cost, he said, eats into their returns and adds into the heightened cost of production for tea.
“We keep hearing that others are getting it. Why does it never get to us? We want the government to release that money so we can be relieved as farmers,” Maina said.
The factory chairman, James Githinji, said the government owes the factory Sh92.5 million for fertiliser subsidies issued in the last two years.
He said should the state fail to clear the debt soon, this could spark conflicts between farmers and tea factories management as they may eventually be charged to them.
Githinji said the government only paid Sh29.9 million for the subsidised fertiliser issued to farmers in 2022, leaving the factory with a balance of Sh52.5 million for the year.
Last year, the factory acquired fertiliser worth Sh133 million, with farmers paying Sh93.3 million and the government was to contribute Sh40 million for the subsidy.
“If we do calculations for this year, this debt could rise up to Sh150 million. My appeal is that the government releases this money because we’re forced to pay KTDA with farmers’ money,” he said.
The chairperson told farmers that the factory increased its production from 27.5 million kilogrammes last year to 31.8 million kilogrammes this year, making it the best in production among KTDA-managed factories.
This translated to 7.8 million kilo grammes of made tea, representing a 15.20 per cent increase in production from last year.
The factory located in Gatanga Subcounty sold tea worth Sh3.83 billion in the year with a kilogramme selling at an average of Sh430.97, an improvement from the Sh343.81 it fetched last year.
It also paid Sh62 per kilogramme in the annual bonus payments, emerging as one of best paying nationally, with farmers pocketing 75 per cent of the tea earnings.
Githinji said the factory’s main challenge is the high cost of power that consumed Sh120 million, about four per cent of its revenue, in the year.
As such, the factory is in the process of installing a power transmission line from Metumi hydropower project owned by Kiru, Gatunguru, Githambo and Kanyenya-ini factories in the upper part of the county.
“The installation of this line is expected to be completed early next year. We hope to get cheaper power by April,” he said.
The factory, he added, plans to expand its market to the African continent, Middle East, US and Asia, and is revamping its marketing department.
Two weeks ago, Ngere tea factory
was feted for producing the third
highest value tea in the commercial manufacture category for Class
No 364-PF1 during the Tea Classes
Competition organised by the Tea
Board of Kenya.
