Government allocates Sh10 billion to modernise tea factories

By Sadik Hassan(KNA)

The Government has set aside Sh10 billion to support value addition, mechanization and modernization of smallholder tea farmers’ factories to increase farmers’ earnings.

Principal Secretary (PS) for Agriculture Dr Paul Ronoh said the Government has already disbursed Sh4.5 billion, with Sh1 billion allocated to the factory modernization programme and the balance going towards fertilizer subsidies.

The PS spoke at the Port of Mombasa after flagging off 30,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer for distribution to smallholder tea farmers under the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), ahead of the rainy season.

The consignment is the first batch of the 99,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer that will be delivered to tea farmers across the country.

Dr Ronoh lauded KTDA for procuring the fertilizer in good time, compared to last year when it arrived in December.

The PS affirmed that the Government had instituted robust reforms in the tea sector to enhance efficiency and improve the earnings of smallholder farmers.

“I know you have received some money, and we will now go ahead and make sure that we provide the remaining money for KTDA so that they can also have a very effective and efficient operation and also remain afloat in the sector,”the PS said.

Dr Ronoh noted that the tea auction report showed farmers’ earnings were likely to improve. Unlike previous years, KTDA has managed to sell all the tea, while prices have also risen because the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) intensified tea marketing.

“We have no doubt as a government that the tea sector will really transform for the betterment of the tea farmers and Kenya as a whole when it comes to economic transformation,” the PS  said, adding that tea growers would purchase the fertilizer at Sh2,000.

KTDA was directed to purchase the fertilizer from international markets through competitive and transparent processes to ensure quality production, while TBK was lauded for enhancing enforcement measures in the sector.

“I want to urge our tea farmers to make sure that the tea they are plucking from their tea bushes meets the required quality. Additionally, I want to assure the tea farmers and Kenyans that a scientific tea testing centre is now ready and is under piloting, and will soon be operational,” said the PS.

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