TEA NEWS

KDTA has said the specialty green tea factory which is the first of its kind in the continent will produce specialized Japanese Sencha Green Tea at Kangaita Tea Farm in Kirinyaga County on a pilot basis as it embarks on diversification.

What you need to know: · KTDA has already gone to court to stop the implementation of the reforms. · Murang’a County has the largest concentration of tea factories in the country. · Aall the local elected leaders — apart from Woman Rep Wanjiru Chege and Gatanga MP Nduati Ngugi — skipped the meeting that was attended by 1,300 tea sector stakeholders. · The Meru County boss has been telling farmers to resist the changes proposed by his predecessor.

For the Kenyan tea, production declined in July by 9.82 million kilos, according to the Tea Directorate, after cold weather engulfed growing areas in Central and the Rift Valley regions. This has been the trend for the past years.

GOOD DEMAND

Traders say they did not participate in the making of the regulations In Summary • The Ministry of Agriculture had scheduled the implementation for June. • The regulations were expected to bring in major changes in how tea is traded in Kenya.

Farmers in Kiambu County frustrated by poor returns of coffee and tea are shifting from growing the two cash crops to the more lucrative macadamia trees to make good earnings.

Temperatures in some parts of the county have gone as low as less than 10 degrees Celsius with other parts receiving light rains.

• The former PS said tea prices have increased by a dollar barely a month after Agriculture CS Peter Munya put his foot down regarding the direct sale of tea by KTDA. • Nyakera said after the sale of the tea at the Mombasa auction, the money is channelled to a pool bank account owned by KTDA and only 30% is paid to farmers monthly.

What you need to know: • It has been a source of dispute between the allotees and squatters who say it is ancestral land. • NLC Vice Chairman James Tuitoek reversed the allocation to the prominent personalities he did not name. • Several tea and sugar multinationals own huge tracts of land in Nandi and neighbouring counties. • Soy MP Caleb Kositany also asked the government to revert grabbed lands to their owners.

The impact then turned into cascading losses that affected tea markets.