The Mountain Journal
Kenya’s tea is produced on 563,564.52 acres of land in the 19 counties, under the control of 983,129 growers affiliated with the 110 tea factories, a report by Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) reveals.
The report by TBK states that 814,786 growers have identity cards and only 115,777 own mobile phones.
In tea growers’ national database, the annual production of the commodity is estimated at 450 million kilogrammes of green leaf earning farmers Sh120 billion.
The report outlines that in 2022, the production of green leaf was at 2,73935,705 kilogrammes with West of Rift leading with 1,537,904,386 kilogrammes of green leaf. The East of Rift in the year managed 736,031,319 kilogrammes of green leaf.
The top five counties with many growers are Bomet with 172,035 farmers, controlling 136,627.8 acres, and Kericho has 124,429 growers with 82,901.49 acres of land.
The details are contained in a report by Kalro, TBK that was used in the distribution of fertiliser support to farmers that was initiated by the government.
Murang’a county with 10 tea factories, has registered 82,357 farmers who own 39,680.90 acres of land, whereas Ngere tea factory has the highest number of producers registered as 9,704 controlling 6,136.74 acres, Kiru has 9,017 farmers with 3,768.59 acres.
Interestingly in Murang’a county, Githambo tea factory has 10,944 growers sharing 4,448 acres of land and Kanyenya ini with 10,755 farmers controlling 3,565.8 acres.
A Director at TBK Charles Kirigwi in charge in East of Rift said the board was seeking to establish the details of the farmers to help end the hawking of the green leaf which has been a major impediment in the sector.
“ Information collected from the farmers has assisted in dealing with the issue of tea hawking which is a threat to the sector. We are updating the same as the regulatory body cracks a whip on the rogue dealers,” said Kirigwi.
Challenges facing the tea sector include reduced land under tea and an increase in the frequency of drought periods.
Zone 11 KTDA Board member James Githinji says the factories are working on the production of quality grades for the local and international markets.
“We are exploring for market of our teas worldwide for the interest of the small-scale holders,” said Githinji also the vice chairman at Ngere Tea factory
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