Chelal Tea Factory is one of the modern factories amongst the 67 factories Managed by K.T.D.A Ltd that serves the small scale holder tea sub sector. Chelal Tea Factory is a satellite of Litein Tea Factory Co. Ltd. Its inception was to:

• Reduce congestion at Litein Tea Factory.
• Reduce long distance transportation of green leaf.
• Handle increasing tea production due to tea farm expansion and improved tea husbandry within its catchment.
• Improve and encourage uninterrupted and continued plucking by growers within concerned tea growing areas.
• Reduce en-route green leaf losses due to shortened haulage distances thus enhancing overall quality and prices of made tea.
• Create employment opportunities.
• Improve rural trade, social amenities and other utilities that accompany tea factory development among other factors.

It was also meant to increase the total KTDA Ltd managed factories’ tea processing capacity, to boost the country’s Gross National Product (GNP) and to improve farmers’ income thus alleviating rural poverty.

Construction of Chelal Tea Factory started on 7th December 2007 and was commissioned on 1st April 2011. The factory is a two line factory with a provision for a third line and an annual crushing capacity of 10 million Kgs of green leaf.

The factory is located in Kisiara location, Roret sub location, Roret division of Bureti district in Rift Valley province and it is about 300km from Nairobi. The factory is along Ngoina- Nyamira road, about 17 km from Litein Tea Factory and 27 km from Kericho town which is the county headquarters.

The factory is built on a 12.5 acre plot and is surrounded by farmers who also practice other agricultural activities apart from tea growing though on a small scale. The factory catchment currently has a total of 6,743 registered tea growers.

The main clones of tea (camellia sinensis) grown are: – TN 14/3, 31/8, SFS 150, 6/8, 303/577, BB35, S15/10, BMC 51, 301/4/5 among other clones.

The mean annual temperature is about 18°C and the area receives rainfall all year round. The long rains usually occur between months of March and May and the shorter rains from August to October. Temperature ranges between 10°C – 30°C and is favorable for tea farming. The annual mean rainfall ranges between 1000 – 2200mm.

Topography is undulating but gives way to some flatter terrain. Soils are mainly red volcanic loam and generally fertile. These soils are rich in plant nutrients and are quite favorable for production of various kinds of crops because of its fertility content and good water holding capacity.

There are four departments namely, Production whose functions include manufacturing and factory operations, Field Services whose functions includes leaf collection and tea extension services, ICT which is specifically concern with information, communication and technology functions and Accounting whose main function is the preparation of management and financial accounting information among other duties.

Contacts:

Email: [email protected]

Factory Directors