21ST MAY 2023
The Honourable Clergy
Her Excellency the Governor of Embu, Hon Cecily Mbarire
His Excellency the Deputy Governor of Embu, Hon Kinyua Mugo
CEC of Agriculture, John Nyaga
Vice Chancellor of the University of Embu, Prof Daniel Njiru
Tea Board of Kenya Chairman, Dr David Mburu
KTDA Board Members present
Representatives of Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade Africa
Representatives of all distinguished tea factories, packers and players in the tea value chain
Invited guests
Ladies and gentlemen
All protocols observed
Allow me to welcome you to Embu County, the county of limitless opportunities. As you were driving here, I’m sure you marvelled at how the landscapes of this land are green and full of life. This is a testament to the fertility of this God given land and the promise it holds to feed not just our people, but also the country.
I should be saying this at the end of this speech but let me say it now. Please do not go back to your destinations without purchasing some food from this County – be it tea, coffee, macadamia, vegetables, milk, bananas or other fruits. For it is this kind of support that our people derive their livelihoods.
We thank God for this abundance of food and today we pray to him for continued provenance.
Let’s talk about smallholder tea farming in our County. KTDA manages 3 factories in this Embu – Mungania, Rukuriri and Kathangariri tea factories which cumulatively 32,300 farmers.
In the last financial year, our smallholder tea farmers produced approximately 54 million kilograms or tea, earning us approximately Kshs 3.4 billion. This is no mean feat and we continuously thank God for this climate that allows us to produce some of the world’s best teas.
Most tea produced here is the black CTC type that is the most widely drunk in the world. As KTDA, we are working to improve farmers welfare through better prices at the markets, provision of critical input such as fertilizer, offering extension services to farmers and varied support in the tea value chain.
The tea factories in the county plan to venture into orthodox teas as a diversification measure to boost farmers ‘incomes. We also wish to undertake value addition by diversifying into flavoured teas for local markets and export.
I wish to urge the county and national governments to give our factories grants to help reduce the large capital outlays required to set up orthodox plants.
I wish to thank the national government, the county government, the tea regulator and all stakeholders for supporting us so far in these ventures. I wish to particularly thank the national government for giving tea farmers a fertilizer subsidy that greatly reduced the cost of production.
Despite these successes, our tea industry still suffers some considerable challenges which I will briefly outline below.
- Taxes and levies: tea is one of the most taxed crops in the country today. There are up to 43 taxes levied on tea from the point of production to the point of sale at the local shops. This minimises returns to farmers. I wish to call upon Her Excellency Governor to review these local levies such as transport cess, and through the Council of Governors to review taxes on tea as a national product.
- Marketing of tea: as a national product, tea has not received adequate marketing to increase sales. I wish to call on the support of the county government, through line ministries, to play a leading role in the marketing of tea to reduce reliance on traditional markets. We should encourage our people to drink more tea so that farmers can gain more income.
- Cost of energy: the high energy costs we are incurring currently in factories are unsustainable. Tea Factories should be classified as industries to enjoy the special power tariffs from Kenya Power. We also need support to venture into renewable energy such as hydropower and solar power which will reduce the factories’ energy burden.
- Tea hawking menace: we urge the county government to enact laws complementing the existing national laws to effectively deal with tea hawking at the county level.
- Road repairs: while we commend the county government for the good work they are doing to repair roads within the county, much still needs to be done to ensure all tea growing areas in the county get good motorable roads. When roads are good, trucks carrying tea to our factories reach their destinations faster, meaning the tea is still fresh and able to maintain it’s quality for better prices.
Sustainability challenges
I wish to highlight one particular challenge that if not addressed with urgency, will erode the gains we have so far made in the sector.
The challenge of climate change will undoubtedly affect our ability to produce tea into the future. Changing rainfall patterns pose a big threat to the livelihoods of thousands of farmers in Kenya.
For example, earlier this year, the country experienced an unprecedented drought that caused a drop in tea production by about 60%.
To help mitigate this risk, factories are ready to work with the county government and other partners in the environment space to plant trees around the tea growing areas to conserve the ecosystems which support tea growing. Without this urgent activity, the economy of the country, which is anchored on agriculture, will suffer.
As we venture into value addition, we ask the county government to walk this venture with us by allocating tea factories centralised industrial space to enable these ventures to thrive. Our priority remains to ensure tea farmers get fair pay for the work they put in.
As we mark this International Tea Day, I’m confident that through the support of the County government, Clergy, the Regulator and all stakeholders seated here today, we shall realise the promise of making the Kenyan tea sector the most vibrant sector in the country.
We thank God for the blessings of the land on which we grow our tea. We thank God for the industry of our tea farmers without whom we would not be seated here today. We thank God for the Clergy who accepted to bless our industry today and we thank God for our Governor, Her Excellency Cecily Mbarire for gracing this occasion today.
Together we shall realise the tea promise.
Thank you