KTDA manages 69 factories in 21 tea growing areas. In 2017, farmers received a bonus of Sh58.67 per kilogram, Sh52.83 (2018) and Sh41.27 (2019).
The probability is high that for every tea bud picked in Kenya, a woman plucked it.
This is the reality three women leaders are struggling to shout to the world that the plight of the women in Kenya is threatened with the low returns from the tea market.
Kericho Women Representative Florence Bore, Turbo MP Janet Sitienei, and Nominated Senator Alice Milgo are concerned that the drop in the price of tea in Kenya is not being taken seriously.
The three women leaders, when speaking in different forums said the tremendous drop in the tea bonus figures had shocked families who for years have depended on the cash crop to educate their children, feed their families and invest in their future.
Senator Milgo warned that tea was the next cash crop that would fail in Kenya after tea and coffee.
She said hundreds of farmers abandoned the growing of maize and coffee because they were short-changed.
“Tea will fail in Kenya. The price given by KTDA is very, very low. I have heard here in Muranga it is Sh20, but in our area it is Sh15, and the people are saying they will uproot the tea bushes,” said Senator Milgo.
The Senator urged the Cabinet Secretary Industry, Trade, and Cooperatives Peter Munya and the concerned Government bodies to tackle issues compiled by an ad-hoc committee over tea-growing that included transport, middlemen and hawking.
Florence Bore said the tea auction in Mombasa was only enriching third parties who had not worked hard throughout the planting and harvesting season.
“Why is tea auctioned in Mombasa? It is time we rethink this business model and bring the auction near the tea growing areas to avoid financial leakages that hurt the farmer,” said MP Bore.
MP Sitienei said it was a historical, disruptive drop in the tea bonus figures never experienced in the country.
“Farmers eagerly wait to receive the tea bonus many months after delivering the crop, and it is only fair to pay them for their sweat,” said MP Sitienei.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization tea is among the top five tea-producing nations – China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam – in that order, representing 75% of the world’s production.
