Gatundu: Tea Farmers Urged To Embrace Value-Added To Increase Earnings

Tea growers and leaders in Gatundu South are urging the government and stakeholders to prioritize value addition to boost earnings from the tea sector.

Gabriel Kagombe, recently re-elected as a Director for Ndarugu Tea Factory for another three years, emphasized the potential for Kenyan tea to lead globally in consumption, rivaling countries like China and Sri Lanka. He highlighted recent government reforms that have already improved farmers’ earnings by closing loopholes exploited by cartels.

Currently, Kagombe noted, most Kenyan tea is sold in bulk at the Mombasa auction. He stressed the need for government investment in value addition to enhance the competitiveness of Kenyan tea in international markets, pointing out initiatives such as the production of orthodox tea by smallholder factories.

Kagombe specifically mentioned the upcoming orthodox tea production line at Ndarugu Tea Factory, set to commence operations in January next year, as a step towards capturing higher prices in global markets.

READ MORE When they arrived at the scene, they were astonished to find a cooking pot filled with meat and some vegetables. At the scene, was a human skull and blood-stained clothes as well as the deceased's gumboots. Police interrogated the suspect on his father's whereabouts but he noted that he was also unaware as he was still searching for him. The rest of the missing body parts first spotted by the locals was found dumped in a sack and covered with stones inside Nithi River. One of the area residents who claimed that the suspect began digging the tunnel in 2017 stated that the suspect and his victim had an argument about the condition of the tunnel before he went missing. "The two had quarrelled after the man stopped his father from cutting the Napier grass around the tunnel," Johnson Mutembei a resident told a local publication. The suspect is currently in custody pending arraignment in court to face murder charges. "We have arrested a man who is suspected to have killed his father, cooked part of the body and hidden some in a tunnel," Muthambi Sub-County Police Commander stated.