The Government has put in measures to increase tea value addition from the current five per cent to 20 per cent.
State Department of Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Ronoh said value addition had been a problem in the exportation and marketing of Kenyan tea because the country was selling its produce in bulk
He observed that marketing and getting the right prices had been a challenge but the current administration put up a very aggressive programme to make the sector beneficial through value addition.
Speaking in Nakuru recently during an engagement and training session for Directors of Tea Factories in Zone, the PS observed that the move would also fetch better prices for tea growers.
He said the sector through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Development had successful elections for directors in all the 54 tea factories countrywide.
“It is the norm for the Ministry through the Tea Board and the Kenya Tea Development Agency to take the directors through several courses to build their capacity to transform the sector in terms of leadership and Corporate Governance.
Ronoh said the government launched and commissioned one of the facilities for value addition in the Western Kenya region at KETEPA in Kericho County.
“The government has invested close to Sh500 million to kick start value addition programme and another Sh1.5 billion for the same programme for the Easter region,” he said.
He said the Eastern Kenya Tea Zone value addition plant will be put up in Nairobi.
“As a Ministry and as a sector, we will help the small-scale farmers when it comes to packaging and manufacture of the types of tea which the international market is looking for,” he said
Ronoh said the investment would absorb the huge volume of tea produced over the last couple of years.
He revealed that last year, the sector increased tea production from 538 million kilograms to 575 million kilograms which translates to foreign earnings of more than Sh200 Billion.
“This year, farmers will get better bonuses and we are looking forward to even doubling its rewards,” he said.
The PS added that training the new directors was meant to bring key transformation in the sector to ensure better tea quality and an increase in earnings for the farmers.
“This will translate to pesa mfukoni (money in the pocket) which is one of the promises by President William Ruto’s government,” he said.
Ronoh said that the government was also putting up a plan to ensure that young people were also engaged in tea growing and value chain to create employment for the youth.
He noted that thousands of unemployed youths could have taken courses in agriculture.
“The Ministry has put up an advertisement to engage close to 20,000 youths in different sectors of agriculture to assist the government and farmers in enhancing good farming practices and technologies,” he added.
While warning the directors against colluding with unscrupulous brokers in the sector, Ronoh warned farmers that the government would be firm on tea quality.
He urged growers to embrace Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in accordance with the requirements of the World Trade Organisation.
“We have instructed the factories and the directors to ensure that they implement reforms and ensure that the quality of tea meets the required standards so that Kenyan produce is valued highly in the international market,” he said
He revealed that the government also aimed at increasing the local tea consumption from the current five per cent to above 25 per cent.