Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has today, Wednesday 27, convened a meeting with Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) directors and stakeholders at his official residence in Karen.
The focus of the meeting is to discuss improvement in this year’s bonuses for tea farmers.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the DP expressed his satisfaction with the positive developments in the tea sector.
He attributed the improvement to direct engagement with farmers and stakeholders, specifically aimed at reviewing and approving the audited financial accounts for the year ending June 2023.
“We will continue with this mode of engagement for better pay for the over 750,000 tea smallholders in the country. To maximize earnings for farmers, such continuous engagement and service to them is key,” Gachagua stated.
This meeting follows concerns raised by tea farmers regarding the revocation of licenses of companies that were buying their crops at unfairly low prices.
Notably, several tea factories operating under the KTDA umbrella have already declared higher bonuses for farmers.
These bonuses per kilo are set to improve with farmers earning between Ksh.45 to Ksh.50 per kilogram.
This increase in earnings can be partly attributed to the depreciation of the Kenyan shilling against the US dollar, which has positively impacted the industry.
Gachagua, earlier this week, expressed the government’s willingness to engage in dialogue with stakeholders in the coffee and tea industries.
However, a notable condition has been set for this dialogue: these industry stakeholders, often referred to as “cartels,” must agree to enhance farmers’ earnings.
“These cartels have banded together, resorting to all means, including spreading propaganda. They are trying to create an artificial crisis. That is because of changes made in the policy people have refused to buy coffee and that is pure lies. They want to force us to sell it to them.”
