Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has asked KTDA to clear piled up stocks of tea in Mombasa warehouses before the end of the year.
Speaking when he visited Mengo and Miritini warehouses on Thursday evening, the Deputy President said the 2023 tea backlog needs to be sorted out.
"Our reason for coming to these warehouses is on concerns of farmers about stocks of the 2023-24 financial year. I'm happy with the assurance given that the number of kilograms remaining will be cleared by the end of this year to the satisfaction of the farmer," he said.
The DP said he met and asked the management of Chai Trading and KTDA Holdings to ensure the stocks are cleared so to put things in order as the country was expecting more tea harvests.
Gachagua said consultations he has held with stakeholders in the Tea subsector will streamline governance and end impediments that among other issues, impede the sale of tea and eat into the earnings of the farmer.
"We agreed on what we need to do. We will be having further meetings in the coming days. We want to streamline and iron out a few challenges that are there,"he said.
At the same time, the DP called on KTDA to invest in construction of their own warehouses to cut down operational costs and afford farmers higher returns on investment.
The meeting was followed by another one earlier in the day where Gachagua engaged KTDA's new directors at Pride Inn Beach Resort during their induction.
He asked them to fastrack the ongoing Tea Subsector Reforms.
Gachagua has been at the forefront in spearheading reforms in the tea subsector particularly in ridding it of cartels who have been taking advantage of farmers.
