TEA NEWS

The second payment for KTDA farmers in the financial year ended June 2020 went up slightly to Sh51 billion in the review period from Sh46 billion in the previous financial year.

Indian tea exporters fear that there will be a drop in export volume in the current year due to higher prices available in the domestic market, particularly of the CTC variety. The exporters also complained about the lack of availability of shipping containers due to fall in imports which has also led to a steep rise in freight rates.

· The oversupply of any commodity always leads to lower prices. · But this is Kenya, where we tend to assume that if there is any drop at all in farmers’ earnings, this can only be due to corruption.

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•This follows a notice by Mt Kenya Tea farmers threatening to boycott tea picking from October 5 to protest against KTDA’s exploitation. •The farmers said failure by the agency to do away with the court cases that it filed to block the implementation of the tea regulations would spark protests from all tea growing areas.

•They said regulations introduced by Agriculture Minister Peter Munya would reform the tea sector and increase their earnings. •Governor Ongwae said the reforms are geared towards repositioning the tea industry towards profitability and global competitiveness.

Manyatta MP John Muchiri and Rukuriri Tea Factory director Joshua Kanake argued that the regulations will lead to rejection of Kenya’s tea in favour of tea from other regional tea producing countries

Three farmers were arrested Wednesday when they went to negotiate the release of two other men arrested on Tuesday on allegations of derailing weighing of tea at the Rwatheini tea buying centre. · Kenya Smallholder Tea Growers Association (Kestega) has advised farmers against boycotting picking of tea, saying they are the ones who will incur losses. • In a statement on Friday, KTDA revealed that over 4.4 million kilograms of green leaf were collected across the 69 factories which it manages by October 7. •The agency said factories in Kiambu county, which include and Gachege, Kagwe, Kambaa, Mataara, Theta and Nadrugu tea factories presented the highest production over the period under review. • The elections involve over 600,000 shareholders. • The court was told to consider the order stopping elections will have adversely affect the operations.

The Kenya Tea Development Agency has urged farmers to not be incited to boycott tea plucking, saying the move would lead to heavy and unnecessary losses.