TEA NEWS

For several years, tea farmers have been complaining of dwindling earnings from their cash crops with some of them opting to sell their tea to private Tea factories.

Small scale tea farmers in Bomet re-admitted to KTDA factory

"In the last 10 years the volume of tea traded in the auction has grown by 64% and based on the statistics of the first half of 2020. The volume of tea sold in the auction will be 67% higher than what was sold in the first half of 2019. Management has introduced initiatives to reduce the hours spent by Buyers in the auction room including timing the selling speeds for each catalogue and requiring the selling speed to be maintained at 7 lots per minute."

Summary • Through Millimo, Muthomi & Co advocates, KTDA is now demanding that the CS revokes the Gazette notice and appointments within 48 hours. The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has rejected an eight-member team recently gazetted by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya to oversee the implementation of the tea regulations, 2020. Through Millimo, Muthomi & Co advocates, KTDA is now demanding that the CS revokes the Gazette notice and appointments within 48 hours, failure to which the law firm will launch legal proceedings against him. "Unless you comply with the foregoing 48 hours, our peremptory instructions is to institute legal proceedings which we shall gladly do, against yourselves to realize several reliefs at your own peril and expense shall crystalise without further reference to yourselves whatsoever," read the letter to CS Munya.

The Agricultural and Food Authority (AFA) is on the spotlight for moving to implement proposed regulations governing the tea industry. The Agricultural and Food Authority (AFA) is on the spotlight for moving to implement proposed regulations governing the tea industry even before the process of making the rules had been completed.

Good demand UK active, Karachi active, Sudan active, Middle East and Yemen fairly active, Somalia active

Summary • The national steering committee on the implementation of tea regulations will be chaired by veteran tea broker Jacob Kamau Kihiu, with former PS Irungu Nyakera, former MP Langat Magerer, Fredrick Muthuri Muriithi and ‘Nation’ Editor John Kamau as members. • Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya has appointed an eight-member team to oversee the implementation of regulations that seek to make tea farming a lucrative venture.

Summary · Among the dealers they are working with is Yara Fertiliser, which is selling the product at Sh2,800 per 50kg bag. · Global tea prices have fallen in the past few months, sparking protests from farmers, who have appealed to the government to introduce subsidies to enable them to continue cultivating the cash crop.

Summary · Growers say buying the commodity from agrovets is expensive. · Mr Koech said the announcement came as a shock to most small scale farmers who were caught unprepared. · He lamented that the farmers are the ones to suffer if tea production is negatively affected. · Tea growers in the Rift valley are a worried lot following the decision by the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) to suspend the importation of fertiliser for smallholder farmers until next year.