• KTDA stands for Kenya Tea Development Agency and is the leading producer of black tea in the country, accounting for over 60 per cent of the total tea produced.
• KTDA is a private company owned by about 600,000 smallholder tea farmers spread across 16 tea growing counties in Kenya. The farmers are shareholders to 54 tea companies that own KTDA (H) and its 8 subsidiary companies.
• Some of the 54 tea factory companies have expanded by setting up satellite factories in their neighborhoods to accommodate the extra leaf. The satellite factories are 15, adding up to 69 the total number of tea factories owned by smallholder tea farmers.
• The seven subsidiary companies owned by KTDA (H) add value to the tea chain. These companies include Chai Trading Company Limited, KTDA (Management Services), Majani Insurance Brokers, Kenya Tea Packers Limited, Greenland Fedha Limited, KTDA Foundation, Tea Machinery and Engineering Company Ltd, KTDA Power Company Limited and KTDA (MS).
• KTDA is the oldest tea Agency in Kenya established in 1963 and remained an Authority until June 15th 2000 when it was incorporate as a private limited company. At the time, the company managed some 54 tea factories. To date, the KTDA manages 69 tea factories.
• KTDA (then Kenya Tea Development Authority) was formed through legal notice No.42 of 1964 and took over the liabilities and functions of the Special Crops Development Authority which had been formed by the white settlers to promote and assist smallholder tea growers in the processing and marketing of their tea.
• KTDA remained under the management of the government until June 15th 2000 when it was incorporated, as a private company under CAP 486 of the Laws of Kenya. In 2000, the company managed some 45 small-holder tea factories, but to date, the company manages 69 tea factories.

• KTDA serves the interests of about 600,000 smallholder tea farmers, who are shareholders of KTDA group.
• The farmers are spread across 16 tea growing counties in Kenya. KTDA provides effective management services to the tea sector for efficient production, processing and marketing of high quality teas for the benefit of shareholders.

• KTDA is a proven business model that has matured over a period of more than 50 years in the management of the small holder sub sector in Kenya. The company constantly strive to improve business systems and practices through sustainable programmes.
• The small scale tea sub-sector has created job opportunities to approximately 10,000 Kenyans across all its operations.
• At the farm level, the agency supports about 600,000 smallholder tea farmers who supply green leaf to KTDA-managed factories. Nationally, the tea industry supports about four million, directly or indirectly, and is a leading foreign exchange earner, raking in a record 140.86 billion shillings in 2018.
• KTDA managed tea factories produce high quality teas as farmers pluck two leaves and a bud. The green leaf is processed using modern machines and equipment, in a highly monitored and controlled environment.
• At the farm level, tea is well taken care of, using latest agronomic practices to improve yields and quality. The Farmer Field Schools (FFS) helps tea farmers to learn methods of sustainable farming which conserves the environment and battle the challenges of climate change.
• KTDA procures bulk fertilizer on behalf of the 600,000 tea farmers and other private tea companies in Kenya. Buying fertilizer in bulk enables KTDA to enjoy economies of scale, meaning we are able to procure the commodity at competitive rate. Last year (2018), KTDA procured 84,770 MT of NPK fertilizer for the farmers and sold a 50kg-bag at Sh1,774 on average compared to the market rate of Ksh 2,750 for a similar quantity.
• To reduce the cost of production, KTDA, in conjunction with regional power companies, is helping tea factories set up small hydro power projects to reduce the cost of energy which accounts for 30 of the total factory cost of production. Some of these projects like Imenti and Gura are up and running.
• Farmers under KTDA do not spray their tea bushes as spraying impact tea with residual effects.
• Through KTDA Foundation, KTDA helps tea farming communities in a number of ways: education, environmental conservation, health and financial literacy.
• We have sponsored over 500 students to advance studies in secondary school, by paying their school fees for four years.
• To date we have planted over 1.6 million trees across our tea communities and schools as well as promoted restoration of the tea landscape through mitigation and adoption strategies as part of addressing challenges posed by climate change.
• We have also impressionable partnerships with farmers on financial literacy, programs that focus on training our farmers on how to manage the tea sale incomes as well as how to manage loans and make appropriate decisions at the individual and household levels.
• KTDA (MS) has also established an efficient leaf collection system that ensures that all the leaf delivered by growers is collected and transported to the factories for processing.
• KTDA (H) treasury management has good deposit rates, ensuring that payment to growers made promptly.
• KTDA (H) offers affordable credit facilities through Greenland Fedha and offers farmers insurance packages such Kinga Ya Mkulima through our subsidiary Majani Insurance Company.
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• We offer quality services to our farmers and the benefits that that come with these services are high. We also pay farmers the highest amounts compared to other players in the industry. Our strength lies with our ability to afford small scale farmers economies of scale, often available only to large scale farmers and plantations.
• Through our model, farmers are able to import fertilizer, build their factories and tea buying centres, improve access roads and market their teas at competitive prices with resultant economies of scale.
• Our experience span over a period of more than 50 years in the management of the small holder sub sector in Kenya. We constantly strive to improve business systems and sustainable practices.

• Every year, KTDA procures NPK fertilizer on behalf of smallholder tea farmers, to improve the quality and quantity of tea. For the past three years, KTDA has on average procured above 80,000 metric tons of NPK fertilizer for the farmers. Usually, KTDA floats an international in regional newspapers so that firms/companies that meet requirement can bid; the bids are analyzed by the tendering committee, and the winning firm is awarded the tender to supply fertilizer.
• The fertilizer that KTDA procures is relatively cheaper compared to what is available in the local market. Last year (2018), KTDA procured 84,770 MT of NPK fertilizer for the farmers and sold a 50kg bag at Sh 1,774 on average compared to the market rate of Ksh 2,750 for a similar quantity.
• KTDA fertilizer prices are comparatively lower as we import the input in bulk, reducing the cost per unit achieved through economies of scale. The final price per bag of 50-kg fertilizer is usually determined by the cost of the input, import duties, port charges, handling, warehousing and transport costs.
• The fertilizer is usually tested for quality and safety by Kenya Bureau of Standards at source, during the manufacturing process, pre-shipment and upon arrival. Other independent lab firms are also engaged to conduct testing.

• KTDA Foundation is a vehicle through which KTDA (H) and its subsidiaries carry out corporate social investments (CSI). The Foundation empowers the small holder tea farmers and their communities through sustainability programme such as environment conservation to deal with challenges posed by climate change for example.
• To date we have planted over 1.6 million trees across our tea communities and schools as well as promoted restoration of the tea landscape through mitigation and adoption strategies as part of addressing challenges posed by climate change. We also train our farmers on how to manage the tea sale incomes as well as how to manage loans and make appropriate decisions at the household levels.
• Additionally, we help improve the health of our farmers by investing in farmers’ access to primary health care and medical services through sponsored medical camps in tea zones. So far, we have organized 25 medical camps with over 27,000 farmers receiving treatment, screening and referral services especially on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure.
• KTDA is also helps financially constrained families to educate their children. To this end, we have awarded over 534 secondary education scholarships to needy and bright students. We have 113 students in different universities from KCSE cohorts of 2016 and 2017.
• Currently, we are focusing on nutrition programme for our tea farmers to boost their health. In partnership with other organizations such as Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), we aim to create demand for safe and nutritious foods through behaviour change communication amongst our tea farmers.

• The Farmer Field School (FFS) program was initiated by KTDA to equip tea farmers with skills and knowledge to enable them produce better quality of tea. The program is anchored on the belief that farmers require the best personalized education service delivered in an easy to understand yet effective manner.
• FFS is designed to train a large numbers of farmers at a relatively low-cost on sustainable farming practices. The farmers are trained in groups in a class of about 30 over a period of 12 months, covering different approaches to farming and learning from experiments in their own fields and from each other. The FFS curriculum includes modules on integrated soil management, harvest and post-harvest management, environmental conservation, composting techniques, replanting and rejuvenation.
• The program has improved the social cohesion in families as well as enhanced leadership within the communities. Farmer confidence has increased and personalities have improved since they have the ability to network and learn from one another during the trainings and earn more income from diversification. What started as a pilot program in 2006 targeting four factories was quickly scaled to cover all the 66 KTDA-managed factories. To date, more than 105,000 farmers have benefited from the program carried by about 3522 FFSs.

• KTDA is operating within its core mandate and has actually reinforced that particular focus. Every investment that KTDA makes is informed by the recommendations of the Sessional Paper No.2 of 1999 that set the path for its privatization.
• The Paper was as a result of government’s decision to undertake significant structural adjustment reforms such as liberalization and privatization of various agricultural sub sectors, including the tea.
• The paper recommended that KTDA invests in various enterprises along the tea value chain to add value to the smallholder tea business. In line with this, KTDA created subsidiaries that would bridge any gaps in the tea value chain. The Paper projected that after the implementation of this diversification business model, it will result in efficient and effective operations of the institutions of the industry. Over the years, these subsidiaries have increased efficiency, reduced operation costs, and earned tea farmers additional income accruing from dividends. Cite amounts for the last 5 years.
• For instance, our microfinance subsidiary, Greenland Fedha has facilitated easy access to credit offers by tea farmers at competitive rates, enabling them to improve their standards of living. The insurance subsidiary – Majani Insurance – ensures that critical insurance services to cushion farmers against risks associated with tea farming through underwriting Group assets, including factories, at competitive rates.
• KTDA Power Company (KTPC) was created to spearhead the development of renewable, reliable and affordable energy starting with small hydropower projects across the tea growing zones. The power projects will benefit tea factories by providing reliable energy at lower costs and generates additional income from the surplus, which will be sold to the national grid.
• The KTDA (MS) provides management services to tea factories through management agreements with the respective tea factory companies. This enables the factories to financially operate at optimal due to economies of scale.
• Chai Trading Company Limited provides services such as warehousing, blending, clearing & forwarding, value addition, export and general tea trading on behalf of the smallholder tea farmers.
• Kenya Tea Packers Limited blends, packs, and distributes branded tea in the local and international markets.
• The Tea Machinery and Engineering Company Ltd provides a workshop for fabrication and assembly of tea machinery for the tea factories. This reduces the need for imports and develops local capacity in engineering.
• The KTDA Foundation is a vehicle through which KTDA, its subsidiaries and tea factory companies give back to the community through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.
• All these group companies are owned by the tea farmers through an elaborate governance structure. They provide efficient and cost effective services to the farmers as well as dividends to shareholders.

• Through the KTDA Foundation, KTDA helps tea farming communities in a number of ways: education, environmental conservation, health and financial literacy.
• The Foundation has sponsored over 500 students to advance studies in secondary school, by paying their fees during their 4-year programme.
• In collaboration with other partners, the Foundation has planted and distributed 500,000 trees across the country, in a move to conserve water tower and catchment areas through the Integrated Sustainable Landscapes project.
• Besides, the Foundation runs financial literacy programme that is aimed at ensuring farmers have financial independence. To further strengthen the programme, KTDA inked a partnership with IFC in a KES420 million agreement that will go towards improving tea productivity and income for tea farmers through the soil nutrient management program and the wood fuel program.
• KTDA also procures bulk fertilizer on behalf of the more than 600, 000 smallholder tea farmers and other private tea companies in Kenya. When KTDA buys fertilizer in bulk, it enjoys economies of scale, meaning the agency is able to procure the commodity at competitive rate. This year’s average price of Ksh 1774 compared to the current market price of Ksh 2750 per 50kg bag.
• To cut on cost of production, KTDA, in conjunction with regional power companies, is helping tea factories set up small hydro power projects aimed at reducing the cost of energy which accounts for 30 of the total factory cost of production.
• KTDA (MS) has also established an efficient leaf collection system that ensures that all the leaf delivered by growers is collected and transported to the factories for processing.
• KTDA (H) treasury management has good deposit rates, ensuring that payment to growers made promptly.
• KTDA (H) offers affordable credit facilities through Greenland Fedha and the micro insurance, Majani Insurance, offers Kinga Ya Mkulima package for tea farmers.

• A kilo of tea that is sold at the auction is not equivalent to the same kilo of green leaf that the farmer supplies to our factories. Usually, it takes about 4.3 kilo of green leaf to produce a kilo of made tea.
• During processing, about 4.3 kilo of green leaf is converted to a kilo of made tea. But again these conversion rate varies depending on weather conditions. During rainy season, the green leaf has more water content than during dry weather. This means than the conversion rate is higher during rainy season than when it is dry. Additionally, there are costs associated with tea manufacturing such as labour, fuel and transportation. At the Mombasa Tea Auction, further costs are incurred such as those associated with transportation, warehousing and auction.

Cost management is important to increase revenue for the farmers. Days are gone even in big companies where salesmen had drivers. The reason drivers double their role as clerks is to cut on the wage bill, and ensure tea farmers enjoy better returns on their investment as well as improve on service delivery. It is a business way of reducing operational costs in our factories.

The green leaf supply agreement is a requirement of the Tea Board of Kenya, now the Tea Directorate under Agriculture Food Authority (AFA) as provided in section 14, 15 and 16 of the Crops Act 2013 A Tea grower wishing to change the factory where he delivers green leaf shall inform the respective factories by giving a notice as specified in the Green Leaf Supply Agreement. In case of an “Objection” to the notice, the Tea Directorate shall be informed immediately of the reasons thereto for appropriate action or arbitration.

A number of factors determine how much bonus farmers earn, but the mostly determined by the price of made tea at the auction which is normally driven by global supply and global market dynamics. Kenya is the most country affected by these global price fluctuations since we only consume 5% of the tea produced. Other countries like China and India consume most of the tea they produce.

The exchange rates also play a central role because when the US dollar is weak compared to Kenya shillings, growers earn more income. Finally, the labour and energy costs impact on overall tea earnings.

95% of the tea in Kenya is exported and hence the location of the auction at Mombasa for ease of export. Previously, the auction for tea was in London and the late national Chairman of KTDA Mr. Imanyara fought hard to bring the auction to Mombasa. Mombasa presents numerous advantages to both producers and buyers as a cost effective port city with developed logistics infrastructure, financial services and teas from different origins. Buyers do not have to set up offices at different places which indirectly would eat into tea prices and consequently farmer’s revenues. Some factories have forward contracts with the buyers. Proximity to the market is key and for KTDA, we are lucky that we own the warehouses where tea is stored through Chai trading and warehousing.

Over the last 10 years, all the 54 factory companies have been holding their Factory AGMs (Annual General Meetings) in January.

Due to changes in the Companies Act of 2015, KTDA had to switch to the earlier date in compliance with the new legal requirements.

The Act requires all companies to hold their AGMs within six months after close of their financial year. The Accounting year of the Tea Factory Companies starts July 1 and ends of June 30 every year. Under the 2015 Act, the factories only have between July and December to hold their AGMs.

Elections of directors are usually conducted in accordance with the Company Articles of Association and Company Law. Company elections are done on the basis of shares. The factory Company Articles has two classes of Shares ie Founder and Commercial share.

The founder share carries the voting right while commercial share carries the dividend right.

During registration of a tea grower to become a member of tea factory company, five founder shares are allotted to that grower in order to participate in decision making of a company, any additional founder shares are issued as a bonus founder shares after every five years.

The factory catchment is divided into electoral areas. The factory members on each electoral area nominate one amongst themselves through an election process and confirmed in a company meeting to become a director. The Company invites qualified candidates to apply for the position of a director.

The candidates to be nominated in an electoral must meet the minimum prescribed qualifications for a director.

During directors’ nomination exercise, the weighted voting system takes place. This voting system empowers and enables the members to decide fairly in the interest of tea farming as opposed to one man one vote.

In exercise of good governance practices the shareholders are allowed to exercise their voting rights by participating in nominations and elections. Some member who do not turn up during nominations execute and register some documents that are recognized under the law, by appointing their desired representatives to vote on their behalf.

The opening of any new factory is a strategic decision that is not based on sentiment but on a feasibility study that proves economic viability and green leaf availability.

The new factories are designed to ease congestion in existing factories leading to reduced green leaf losses and maintenance of tea quality.

To maintain the high tea quality associated with KTDA and ensure optimal service delivery to farmers, the Agency has a policy to cap annual factory processing capacity at 20 million kilos of green leaf.

Tea hawking is an illegal activity where unscrupulous middlemen buy leaf directly from farmers who are registered with KTDA managed tea factories.

This illegal trade thrives through a popular misguided interpretation of the concept of “free market” believing that the liberalized market permits it, but in actual sense the practice is illegal and against the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) regulations.

Impact of Green Leaf Hawking:

• Factories may end up operating under their designed capacities. This will create an idle resource which is a loss to the farmers who built and own the factories.
• Factories are still repaying loans for expansion. The expansions were done to increase processing capacities based on projections so that all the increasing production can be accommodated.
• Leaf is being stolen from the farms, at leaf collection centres and from factory vehicles on transit to factories.
• Competition among the tea hawkers has heightened acrimony amongst themselves. This is a security concern.
• Family disputes are on the rise where family members disagree on where to deliver green leaf.
• Increase in poverty levels as farmers engage in cash business, where the main beneficiaries are the few hawkers and the private factories. Farmers are only paid Sh17/Kg of green leaf by the hawkers whereas the annual payment Insert the average rate for Meru.
• Loss of revenue to respective counties and the government.
• Loss of jobs as it will lead to downsizing at the local tea factories.
• High loan default will adversely affect local financial institutions.
• Reduced revenue to farmers due to compromised green leaf quality and declined productivity as factories do no supply fertilizer to hawkers.
• The mode of leaf transportation by the leaf hawkers, when published by the media and on social media, shows substandard and unhygienic way of handling tea. This compromises the good standing that Kenya has as a source of high quality teas.

KTDA is owned by the factories that are in turn owned by the farmers. This ensures that farmers get the full amount of payments after costs of production as there is no other shareholder with a profit motive.

In other factories and countries, farmers are paid less as the owner of the factory has to make a profit.

The strength of KTDA lies in its ability to afford small scale farmers economies of scale, often available only to large scale farmers and plantations. Through the KTDA model, farmers are able to import fertilizer, build their factories and tea buying centres, improve access roads and market their teas at competitive prices with resultant economies of scale.

KTDA also has experience gathered over a period of more than 50 years in the management of the small holder sub sector in Kenya. We constantly strive to improve business systems and practices.

KTDA continues to look for new markets for its teas abroad and overseas. Currently, KTDA is scouting for markets in Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Dubai, USA, Canada, India, Algeria, Morocco, France, Poland and Angola. Recently a delegation of leading Russian Tea Packers visited KTDA managed factories to appreciate our diversification into orthodox and discuss business opportunities between KTDA and Russian market. The prospects are promising.

KTDA is leveraging technology to maximize tea production and marketing. At the farm level, KTDA has embraced Farmer Field Schools, where tea farmers are taught latest agronomic and technological practices that can be applied to the farm to increase production while sustaining the environment.

The leaf if weighed by electronic scales, personal digital assistants (PDA), portable printers and server software to ensure green leaf is weighed accurately. Upon delivery of green leaf, the PDA automatically captures the weight and transmits data to the server at the factory without manual intervention. This system is being upgraded to include smart cards and SMS / USSD communication among features.

At the factory level, KTDA has installed Continuous Fermentation Units (CFUs) that ferments tea before it is conveyed to the driers.

Additionally, KTDA has adopted Systems Application and Products (SAP) application in its business operations. The system has been under incubation since 2015 and has been customized for KTDA requirements.

Likewise, KTDA employs electronic channels on communication in the sales and marketing function. This includes KTDA website, social media channels and e-documentation and customer management in order to reduce cost of doing business. New buyers from all over the world can contact KTDA directly and place a tea order or make an enquiry. All factories similar have e-maps that give details about their geo-location and other details.

In the past, KTDA worked with the Trade to develop the EBB (Electronic Bill Board) where buyers once they have bought tea in the auction would pay money to the receiving bank and this money is credited into the factory accounts in their respective banks.

Currently, KTDA is working with other stakeholders in the trade under the auspices of EATTA in the development of E-auction platform.

The tea that KTDA exports abroad and overseas, on behalf of tea farmers, is abundantly available locally for any tea drinker to buy. The tea is sold at the factory gate in all the 69 tea factories managed by KTDA.

The future of the tea industry is bright. In the long term, we expect that all stakeholders will play their role effectively for the good of the industry and the country. Tea is currently the highest foreign exchange earner in Kenya.

To sustain this, there is need for the government to review taxes levied against Kenyan tea to reduce the burden on farmers.

However, there is need to safeguard the sector by controlling malpractices such as green leaf tea hawking brought about by uncontrolled licensing of factories without an adequate source of leaf.

Customers are now aware of the need for high standards in food processing. Certification conveys to consumers and the marketplace that food business has successfully met the requirements of a national or internationally recognized best practice approach.

With heightened awareness, consumers are now demanding an improvement in food safety standards throughout the global supply chain.

To meet and exceed customers’ needs, KTDA (MS) has facilitated the certification of the tea factories it manages. Some of these certifications include: ISO, Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance.

KTDA, the giant producer of tea in East Africa, is at the forefront in adding value to its teas.

Through one of its subsidiary companies – Kenya Tea Packers Limited (KETEPA), the company blends and packages tea and sells in different markets, locally and internationally.

The popular brands blended and packaged by the company include Fahari ya Kenya, KETEPA Pride, Safari Pure, Chai Yetu, Karibu Chai, Jani Green and Flavoured Tea bags. The flavoured teas produced are Ginger, Masala, Forest Fruit, Lemon, Cinnamon and Caramel teas. Lately, due to high demand for flavoured teas, the company has invented new products lines, like Mint, Earl Grey, Mango, Pineapple, Orange and Jazmine. The company has also invested in Maisha Pure drinking water, that is slowly finding its niche in the local market.

The production of purple tea is about 1,000 kgs of processed tea between 2008 and 2017. The product line is grown by Kangaita Tea Factory and is expressly for experimental purposes as KTDA (H) make efforts to develop market outlets. Kangaita process the purple tea as a pure product, but in other tea zones, the tea is blended with the regular black CTC tea and processed as black CTC. Some of the tea factories with the capacity to process orthodox/purple tea include Michimikuru and Itumbe Tea Factories. However, these factories have not yet started processing the tea full scale as KTDA (H) is still monitoring the market response.

Purple tea is mainly grown around the Mt Kenya region, especially around Kangaita area. As of 2014, the country had a total acreage of about 172.5 acres under purple tea according to available records.

We can’t prove this, but according to Kericho Tea Research Institute (KRI), purple tea has rich anthocyanin (purple pigmentation), which has a medicinal value. The institute says that the tea is also resistant to drought, frost, disease and pest.

KRI says that purple tea is famed for its medicinal properties which make it popular among health enthusiasts. It has a unique thirst quenching quality and is known to reduce the risk of hypertension and cardiac arrests. The tea is an anti-radical, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-malarial, anti-cancerous, anti-diabetic and anti-apoptotic.

The method of processing purple teas also differs from that used to process black teas. In the former, a gentler process of rolling the leaves is used as opposed to the more boisterous process of crush tear and curl used for black teas.

Kenyans, especially women, are receiving purple tea positively as the product is believed to have a medicinal value. KTDA is still evaluating the market responsiveness of the tea but so far the demand is low. Despite this, purple tea is gaining popularity amongst tea consumers and, with good publicity, KTDA (H) hopes to break even.

However, black tea is still remains the most preferred tea and forms the bulk of our product uptake with the local market absorbing about five per cent of total tea produced in Kenya.

KTDA (H) is involved in a number of practices/programs aimed at mitigating and adapting to climatic changes. The agency has engaged tea farmers in sustainable agricultural practice through Farmer Field Schools (FFS). Some of these sustainable agricultural practices that farmers have learnt include waste management (organic waste management, plastic waste and chemical container management, and making products by recycling plastic waste), ecosystem conservation (protecting water catchment and riparian areas by planting of indigenous trees and creating buffer zones), water and soil conservation, and best farm management practices.

To further support these conservation efforts, KTDA Foundation plant trees in water-catchment and riparian-buffer areas to mitigate the effects of climatic changes. So far, the Foundation has planted about 500, 000 trees since 2012, when the tree planting project started.

The Foundation has partnered with like-minded organizations to promote the use of green renewable energy. The Foundation sells solar lamps and energy-saving jikos to the tea farming communities at rates that are below the market price.

Generally, there have been destructive rainfalls, extreme hot weather conditions, drought, frosts, hailstorms and unpredictable rains. The harsh sun damages tea bushes, reducing the quality of green leaf. The hot weather also hardens up the soils, resulting in low leaf quality and quantities. There are times when pests and diseases are on the increase and this lowers tea yield. The increased soil erosion affects the roots of tea bushes, leading to reduced crop yields. Moreover, the unpredictable rains create uncertainty as to when farmers should apply fertilizer to tea. Sometimes, these harsh weather conditions have led to tea and kitchen garden crop failures.

KTDA (H) is working closely with the government to ensure to conserve the environment. For instance, KTDA (H) has held workshops with FAO and the representatives from the Government of Kenya on Climate Change and the Tea sector in Kenya: Economic and Social Impact Assessment and other issues affecting tea.

Using the diffusion formula of 1:5 ratios, KTDA (H) has reached this goal and surpassed it. However, on a ratio of 1:1, the agency has directly trained 96,000 tea farmers. The FFS training is still on going; therefore, more farmers are expected to be trained.

Our goal is to have all 560,000 small scale tea farmers trained on sustainable agricultural systems for them to become true friends of environment conservation. To achieve this, we are up scaling our FFS programs to train more farmers.

Kenya Tea Development Agency Holdings Group (KTDA – H) is one of the largest tea management agency in Kenya, accounting for about 60 percent of the total tea produced in the country. KTDA (H) Group manages 54 private tea factory companies that are owned by over 560, 000 smallholder tea farmers, spread across the country. Some of the 54 tea factory companies have expanded by setting up satellite factories in their neighborhoods to accommodate the extra leaf. The satellite factories are 13, adding to 67 the total number of tea factories managed by KTDA (H) Group. Each of the 67 tea factories is managed by a Board, that comprises six Directors who are elected by smallholder tea farmers, on a rotational basis, every other three years.

Until 2010 when Kenya passed the new Constitution, the Board was dominated by men Directors, who made decisions on behalf of the smallholder tea farmers. However, after the dispensation of the new Constitution, KTDA (H) Group integrated women leadership in its management structures to promote gender equality in tea growing communities as a way of improving the quality of their life.

In 2013, some 41 women were appointed to be Directors of KTDA Group and the 35 tea factories for three years. The women Directors were in May 2016 selected for the third year in a row, after which other women from tea growing zones would be considered for appointment.

Some leadership behaviors, often applied by women than by men, have proved to enhance company performance and will be integral in meeting tomorrow’s business challenges. Therefore, promoting gender diversity in leadership is strategic for the success of any business.

Initially, the main objective of appointing the women Directors was to comply with some section of the new Kenyan Constitution. A Chapter on Equality and Freedom from Discrimination, Section 27 (8) state that “the State shall take legislative and other measures to implement the principle that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.”

After appointing the first batch of 36 women Directors, KTDA (H) Group realized the positive impact the women were making in the company management. The Group then embarked on lobbying more tea factory companies to embraced the women Director concept.

Another objective of having women directors on KTDA (H) and factory Boards was to increase employment opportunities for women hailing from tea growing communities to better their lifestyles. One criterion used to pick the women is whether they are tea growers or relatives of any of the 560,000 registered smallholder tea farmers (at the factories). With this formula, the women would not have needed to be registered growers to be legible for the appointment.

KTDA Group has encouraged the appointed women Directors to advance in their careers to positively transform their thinking and eventually their lifestyles. A good number of the women, currently on board, are studying at different local Universities and Colleges. A bunch of them are pursuing their PhDs, while a majority are doing their undergraduate degree courses.

Additionally, the KTDA Group has embraced the women Director concept to encourage women in tea growing communities to seek elective positions, on a rotational basis, like their male counterparts. The majority of the members of the Tea Factory Boards comprise men, but the trend is now gradually changing for women. Smallholder tea farmers registered with tea factories like Nyankoba, Sanganyi, Gatunguru, Chebut, Kapsara, Gatunguru, and Kiegoi have elected women directors to the factory Boards, with Kiegoi being the first tea factory company under KTDA (H) Group to elect a female Director in 2000. In total, about 20 women have won the Directors position through the secret ballot paper voting system.

But even as KTDA (MS) appointed the women Directors, the aim was to have them trained on best management practices to serve the smallholder tea farmers better. Every year since the program begun, KTDA Group prepares the women on Corporate Governance and this year the 41 women Directors were trained.

KTDA (H) Group has also taken the lead in gender equality by appointing an independent lady Director to its Board, who at the same time has been named to chair the Risk Assurance and Governance Committee (Audit).

Each of the independent woman directors at the KTDA Group and the Tea Factory Boards is appointed to oversee the operations of some sections of the company depending on their level of specific skills and competencies. KTDA Group was the first private group of companies to integrate women into its leadership/governance structures.