The Permanent Secretary (PS) State Department of Agriculture Dr. Kiprono Ronoh has flagged off the first batch of 47,300 tons (equivalent to over 1 million bags) of NPK fertilizer to be distributed to over 650,000 tea farmers ahead of the October-November-December short rains.
The fertilizer is the first batch of 97,000 tons procured by the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) to support farmers. The next consignment is expected to dock in the next two weeks.
Dr Ronoh said at the Port of Mombasa that the government is fulfilling its commitment to tea farmers through the fertilizer subsidy program.
“As promised by this government the cost of one bag of fertilizer remains Sh2, 500. Tea farmers like other farmers will benefit from the subsidized program which the government has put in place,” stated the Agriculture PS.
He underscored the importance of the tea sector to the economy as it contributes close to four per cent of the country’s GDP.
“In terms of money, it moves from Sh138 billion to an earning of close to Sh200 billion. It is attributed to good rains, government fertilizer subsidy programs, and an increase in tea bushes,” explained Dr Ronoh.
He encouraged tea farmers to step up their efforts as the government looked for a market for their tea they had enough quality tea stocks. This the PS, noted will improve the livelihood of farmers and the social-economic indicators of the country.
On unsold stocks of tea, he appreciated KTDA for their efforts in reducing the Kilogrammes (Kg) of unsold tea. Going forward he promised that there would be no unsold tea above 40M Kgs.
To address tea factories’ operational efficiency, the government has commissioned an audit of all the factories to check on their challenges for the government and KTDA to support the factories facing inefficiencies.
“We also realized that the issues of quality also contributed to low tea earnings for some farmers. We are rolling out reforms in the tea sector and among them is to see how best we can improve tea quality,” stated the PS.
The PS further assured farmers that the government is keen to expand markets across the globe. Already, they are arrangements with China to buy Kenya tea.
The government, he said is building a common user facility to assist small-scale tea farmers in value addition and packaging.
“A common user facility that was launched by the Head of State recently is ongoing in Ketepa, Kericho. We are also going to look for a common user facility in Mombasa and Nairobi to take care of the Eastern region,” said the PS.
Tea Directors were urged to ensure there is proper governance in their factories to reduce wastage and theft of tea due to wrong calibration.
“We realized that some machines have got challenges and sometimes they give wrong readings either by design or by error. Tea Board of Kenya is going to inspect all the tea factories weighing machines to make sure they are weighing the right weight so that there is no theft of tea farmers at tea buying centres,” said the PS.
KTDA Chairman Enos Njeru thanked the government for the fertilizer subsidy program. He revealed that the fertilizer was procured at a higher price but the government subsidized it for tea farmers.
“There is that commitment by the government to pay the balance which will be close to almost Sh1000. We appreciate this,” said Njeru, challenging tea farmers to concentrate on quality rather than quantity.
This year, the KTDA Chairman noted farmers produced 1.4 million of green tea leaves compared to last year when 1.1 million were produced.
On his part, KPA MD Capt. William Ruto said the port efficiency has led to the timely offloading of fertilizer from the vessel.
He advised KTDA that future consignment needs to be ordered on time because of the long routes ships have to take due to upheaval on the Red Sea
