Farmers in various tea zones have accused several factories of unfairly dropping per kilogram prices of the green leaf, prompting protests in some areas.
At the Mogogosiek factory in Bomet county, tea farmers protested on Wednesday against the price of KSh 20 per kilogram they were offered for tea delivered up to June 2024.Anti-riot police quell the protest and engaged in running battles with tea farmers after they allegedly threatened to loot and burn the factory. Similar sentiments were voiced by tea farmers in other zones of the South Rift, where a kilo of the green leaf was priced at less than KSh 25.
The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) is expected to release bonus figures for the 71 factories under its umbrella after factory directors concluded their board meetings on Tuesday and finalized financial reviews.
Normally, the bonus prices are declared on September and paid in October, after calculating the yearly sales of tea. Although official bonus figures are yet to be declared, farmers in some areas believe that prices have slumped compared to other areas which enjoy better rates. These rates are set after an assessment of the revenue per year, the quality of the leaf delivered, and the tabulation of production costs.
South Rift’s Protest, and Government Caps
South Rift tea farmers are lamenting that factories in their areas are exploiting them because those in other areas are offering their farmers higher prices per kilo of the green leaf. It is said that Imenti factory in Meru county offered KSh 60 per kilo to its farmers, which is double the price they have been getting.
The region’s factories are yet to deliver statements on the contentious issue, but Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Ronoh is set to visit the region to pacify the discontented farmers. Local area leaders have also urged restraint and encouraged the farmers to negotiate peacefully with the factories’ management.
The South Rift farmers have demanded to know from their respective factory directors how the tea bonuses are calculated, believing there are underhand conspiracies to cheat them of their hard work. Some farmers have also called upon KTDA to separate some factories like the Tegat and Toror factories and the Litein and Chelal factories – a suggestion the agency has promised to deliberate on.
In another factory in Meru, farmers protested against the reduction of bonus prices from KSh 47 to KSh 35 per kilo. Chaos erupted and part of the tea estate was set on fire. They lamented that other factories in the region paid out not less than KSh 50 per kilo of green leaf.
Some tea farmers in the Kisii region have also contemplated uprooting the crop after some factories in the area offered insubstantial bonuses that were unlikely to cover costs.
The tea sector is facing a challenge in oversupplied stock as 100 million kilos of the beverage remain unsold at the Mombasa tea auction. The Agriculture Ministry intervened to ensure almost half of the glut was sold, assuring stakeholders that the rest would be cleared by December.
Pundits say that recurrent challenges in oversupply of the leaf in the auction could be attributed to the price floors set by the government, which restricted sellers to respond effectively to the market.