Dorothy Nakaweesi
24 November 2009
Tea growers are upbeat about the coming of the rains saying; it has boosted the production of the country's fourth export earner.
Harsh weather conditions, which dominated almost the entire part of this year, affected the green leaves output that saw less commodity put on the market.
Industry experts say the increase in production means the country will be in position to meet the annual export projection of 46 million kilogrammes.
The Acting Secretary General, Uganda Tea Association (UTA), the umbrella organisation of all tea producers and exporters, Mr George William Ssekitooleko in an interview with Business Power said: "The coming of the rains is a positive change in production and if it continues raining in the next two months of this year, we anticipate to earn an average of $80 million (Shs149.2 billion)".
Last year, Uganda earned over $76 million (Shs129.2 billion) from close to 45 million bags of tea exported.
However, UTA officials could not give figures of how much production has increased save for reports from the different players which indicate a good output.
Farmers experience
Ms Hope Mugenyi, a smallholder tea producer and processor under the brand name Royale Tea, is happy about the rains as her production has increased by 50 per cent.
"During the dry season, our production dropped to almost 10 per cent and this scared us so much," Ms Mugenyi said.
Uganda has been earning high prices at the Mombasa auction for two consecutive years. This started just after the 2008 Kenya's post election crisis. Tea prices were the highest ever, fetching between $2.45 - $2.60 per kilogramme.
Mr Ssekitooleko was also happy that Uganda's tea is still enjoying a good price at the Mombasa auction where on average a kilogramme costs $1.8 (Shs3,357) - $1.9 (Shs3,543). This is happening even at a time when the dollar is depreciating against the local currency.
"We are paid in dollars but spend in shillings, so if the dollar is depreciating, we are not much affected," Mr Ssekitooleko said.
Ready market
Uganda exports almost all its tea through the auction at Mombasa and it's indirectly exported to Europe, Middle East, Russia and America as Kenya, save for a few companies which have embarked on exporting through the fair trade initiative, exports its tea to the UK.
Nyakatonza and Igara Tea a have started exporting directly through Fair Trade system, where smallholder farms in the value chain are paid a premium price by consumers who buy this tea.
Mr Ssekitooleko said: "This initiative has helped many farmers' whose standards of living have improved because they expect a steady income".
However, the challenge of expensive inputs, inefficient and costly power and the poor /dilapidated roads where most of the players operate from, are still the major challenges affecting the industry.
"We think the cost of the inputs is still high and we are afraid it's still going up. This is making doing business very costly," Mr Ssekitoleko said.
Experts in the industry say; fertilisers which cost $500 per tonne in 2007 now go for $1,200, making it costly for many farmers to afford.
Because of this, a few farmers have been able to apply the fertilisers and this has affected yields and quality.
Energy costs have dug holes into the pockets of tea farmers. Currently a litre of diesel, which is required to run generators, costs Shs2,000.
Uganda's tea is grown mostly in the south western and central regions and the country has got about 25,000 hectares of tea. This has created employment for over 62, 000 Ugandans with close to 500,000 dependants.
There are close to 12 tea processing and exporting companies operating 21 processing factories.
Uganda is the world's 13th largest tea producer and the third in East and central Africa after Kenya and Malawi, according to the UN.
Other countries growing tea in Africa include; Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zambia.
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