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President William Ruto said recently that farmers are likely to earn a record Sh70 per kilo in bonus due to various interventions by the government.
- Last year, the agency paid a total of Sh180 billion and Sh114 billion in 2022.
Image: FILE
Small-scale tea farmers supplying their green leaves to KTDA-managed factories are set to know their bonus payout rates this week as directors from respective factories convene.
The directors are meeting to review and approve the audited financial accounts.
Every year, farmers get a mini-bonus which is the first payout and the second and final pay commonly referred to as bonus.
A schedule of the meetings seen by the Star shows that it will run from September 9 to 17.
During these meetings, the directors will discuss the performance of their respective factories for the year ending June 2024.
Following the conclusion of these meetings, KTDA will formally declare it.
President William Ruto said recently that farmers are likely to earn a record Sh70 per kilo in bonuses due to various interventions by the government.
He said this year’s total earnings went up by Sh30 billion.
Last year, the agency paid a total of Sh180 billion in bonus and Sh114 billion in 2022.
Rates paid by factories on bonuses differ based on income for the year, quality of leaf delivered, costs of production as well and the average price of tea that the factory fetched at the market.
Farmers are currently paid Sh21.5 per kilo for the green leaves delivered to the factories which is an increase of Sh1.5 from last year’s pay.
It is, however, lower than what is offered by private factories which have continued to penetrate various regions especially West of Rift as they aim for a share of the produce.
Most of these factories pay between Sh23 and Sh27 monthly.
They do not pay bonuses to its members making KTDA the preferred choice for most tea farmers.
The tea industry recorded the highest export earnings ever of Sh180.57 billion last year.
This was a significant increase from Sh138.09 billion recorded in 2022 and 136.59 billion in 2021.
According to the Kenya Tea Industry performance highlights for 2023, a further Sh16.4 billion was generated from the sale of tea in the domestic market.
This resulted in a total marketed value of Sh196.97 billion.
The Kenya Tea Industry performance highlights for 2023 released by the Tea Board of Kenya showed that the total tea export volume increased by 16 per cent (72.58 million kgs) in 2023 from 450.33.