TEA NEWS #tea news

• Farmers are crying foul over last week’s second and final bonus payment from the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). • Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya commissioned a study to evaluate the impact of commercial activities, behaviour and, earnings of KTDA smallholders farmers. • Unfortunately, the kind of data the CS is looking for cannot help him achieve the intended purpose, which, in my view, is key to how farmers can productively gain from tea growing. • The injustice against smallholder farmers are systemic and historical. All the government needs to correct the situation is the desire and commitment to do so.

• Chairman Kanyago said dialogue between KTDA and the government will yield a win-win situation for the farmer and save the sector from collapsing. • Farmers have accused KTDA of rejecting reforms meant to 'dismantle an opaque and exploitative system that has enslaved them for decades'.

• Farmers want KTDA to withdraw court cases filed against the tea regulations. • They also want chairman Peter Kanyago's resignation saying his ownership of a tea brokerage firm amounts to a conflict of interest.

• The highest paid farmer in Nyeri from Gitugi tea factory will earn Sh26.35 per kilogramme of green leaf • But some farmers protested that high deductions to finance the agency’s operations. • Bonus payments are determined by factory directors for each agency's affiliated companies.

• Until recently, Atlas was a broker for Imenti Tea Factory but today deals mainly with tea from Rwanda. • A tea broker earns a commission for every sale from both the producer and the buyer and Atlas is one of the largest broker in the industry.

• The decision comes at a time when the Ministry of Agriculture has enacted new regulations that give more independence to the factories that are owned by KTDA Holding. • Under the regulations factories will also be required to file their annual statistical returns with the Tea directorate at the ministry. • number of factories have already started declaring their second payment to farmers with the process expected to have been completed last week allowing farmers to get their earnings from October 22. • Tea brokers, buyers and the auction organiser will ensure that the proceeds from the sale of tea are remitted to the tea factory accounts within fourteen days from the date of the sale, less the agreed commissions

Mr Nyakera said the ongoing push for total overhaul of the value chain structures have the ability to push up farmers’ earnings and improve bonus calculations. • The Nyeri and Murang’a farmers said the government has to as a matter of urgency, shift gears to hound out of office all KTDA directors.

• Senator said KTDA is a public body and should be answerable to farmers. • He said the new tea regulations should be expedited so farmers can benefit if that is the route to help save the sector from collapsing.