Kenya tea development agency national Chairman Peter Kanyago wants the government to revert the agency into an authority by buying it off if they want to control it.
The chairman who is opposed to the proposed new tea regulations said that KTDA is a private company that cannot be controlled or owned by anyone without a cost.
He said that the agency is owned by farmers from 54 factories nationally where each hold at least two percent of assets which is equivalent to Sh. 400 million.
“We are not opposed to government directives. All what we are saying is that they either buy KTDA from farmers or come up with another agency,”he said.
The agitated Chair went ahead to disparage the said proposed tea changes saying that they will completely kill tea subsector in the country.
Kanyago cited the regulation that will see 100 percent of local tea sold directly, wondering how this would be practically possible.
“To avoid flooding local market with our tea, we can only have 80 percent of our tea sold through Mombasa tea auction and 20 percent through direct sales as President Uhuru Kenyatta had earlier directed,”he said.
This comes on the backdrop of low tea prices in the country. The KTDA boss said that the low prices are as a result of over production in the country.
He said that the price per kilo will be lower this year but farmers could earn more than they did last year due to the fact that they supplied more tea to their their factories.
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To resolve the current impasse over these regulations, Kanyago has called for a dialogue with the government
Source: Capital FM
