Gachagua says the government has a direct interest in the tea sector 

The Mountain Journal 

The Government must protect the interests of the 800,000 tea growers that need the factory directors to ensure fairness in the operations.

 Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has emphasized that the government has a key interest in the sector calling on the directors to ensure the cost of production was brought down to enable the farmers to reap better returns from the sale of green leaf.\

Gachagua speaking in Mombasa during the closure of the one-week induction training for the directors from the KTDA manned tea factories, said the sector was important as it earns the county foreign exchange in billions annually.

Accompanied by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Dr Andrew Karanja Agriculture PS Paul Rono, and KTDA Holding Chairman Enos Njeru, Gachuagua said there was need for cost-effective measures to curb the wastage of resources as the directors should focus on exploring new markets and embark on value addition.

He proposed that KTDA subsidiaries that make losses should be shut down.

“ The investment in loss-making businesses without returns

to the farmer should be closed and a forensic audit conducted,” said Gachagua.

The DP said KTDA  should increase the sale of value-

added tea from the current 1% to 40% by 2027, as Sri Lanka a leading producer was doing 50 percent in the value addition.

 On quality tea production,  the DP directed the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK), to take tough action on private tea factories blamed for sabotaging quality.

“ The regulator should deal with tea brokers and other players in the value chain who mess the sector their licenses should be revoked immediately and surcharged,” said Gachagua.

Njeru on his part, said there was a need for the directors to collectively address tea quality in their areas.

Njeru said production of quality alone is not enough thus need for combined efforts to produce top-notch tea that will only bear fruit if the end product is successfully absorbed by the market. As a leadership team.

KTDA, he said was committed to expanding its market share through retaining the existing markets but also exploring new ones.

“ I challenge the directors to be innovative in finding new routes to take our teas to the market,” said Njeru.

 Karanja said the government targets tea sales will increase from Sh180 billion to Sh360 billion by the year 2027 while the volumes rise from 20 million kilogrammes to 235 million kilogrammes in the same year.

“ We are also set to have the price of the commodity from Sh59 to Sh90 by the year 2027,” said the Agriculture CS.

Rono said the stocks of unsold teas have reduced from 100 million kilogrammes to 37 million.

“ Following the directive to remove the reserved price on our teas, in the shortest time we have managed to reduce the unsold stock,” said Dr Rono.