Embu — Tea factories in Kiambu, Muranga, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Meru, and Embu counties lost 100 million kilogrammes of tea in the first quarter of the year as a result of climate change which took a toll on agriculture, KTDA chairman David Ichoho has revealed.
While addressing the 225 directors drawn from the 37 tea factories in Mt. Kenya at Embu, the Kenya Tea Development Agency( KTDA) chair said that the drought experienced during the first quarter of the year occasioned by climate change had taken a toll on tea farming resulting in the losses.
Ichoho said their meeting was informed by the reforms that KTDA is undertaking in order to improve production in the tea factories adding that all the 37 tea factories spread across Mt. Kenya and the 225 directors of the companies had endorsed the KTDA Management Structure (MS).
"Most of the companies have agreed to continue with KTDA Management Structure (MS) being their management function," said the KTDA chair.
He said that by the tea factories embracing the Management Structure, the management fee of the tea factories will reduce from Sh2.5 million to Sh1.5 million and also ensure that all the tea regions produce quality tea.
The KTDA management disclosed that there has been high demand in the International Markets for Kenya's orthodox tea.
The KTDA chair added that they were in the process of initiating a programme to ensure that tea farmers in the various factories across the country would be supported to venture into the processing of orthodox tea to increase their income and also for Kenya to meet the international market demand.
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"Orthodox tea which include oolong, green, white or black tea have a high demand and KTDA has identified markets that require more than 2 million kilos annually," he said.
He noted that over 95 per cent of locally produced tea is exported while only five percent is consumed locally, which he said exposed the produce to global market fluctuations.
The chairman stated that already, the reforms being undertaken by the KTDA were aimed at ensuring that the farmers reap big from their sweat.
Ichoho said among the changes they need to initiate is to have a harmonized draft that would take care of the needs of the farmers and improve on the workforce of all the tea factories.
He said that Kenya is targeting to increase its valued tea percentage from the current 5 per cent to 50 per cent in the next 5 years so as to sell more tea. - Kna
