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Farmers hawk tea over price dispute
- Details
- Published on Monday, 04 June 2007 01:20
The move comes after the Government declined to intervene in the standoff between the small-scale tea growers and the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) over a price increase dispute.
The disgruntled farmers have started hawking their green leaf to multi-nationals in neighbouring Kericho, Bureti and Bomet districts.
The farmers’ action is hoped to push the agency to increase its producer prices from the current Sh9 per kilogramme to Sh15.
The Gusii region compromising of Nyamira, Kisii and Gucha districts is categorised under zone 10 and boasts of 10 tea factories that are managed by KTDA.
These include Tombe, Kebirigo, Nyankoba, Sanganyi, Gianchore and Nyansiongo in Nyamira.
Others are Nyamache and Ogembo in Gucha, while Kisii is served by Kiamokama.
This unexpected move by the farmers has alarmed KTDA, which has heavily invested in smallholder tea farming business in the area over the years. The agency had been providing the farmers with planting materials, extension services and gave market to their produce.
Zone 10 manager, Erick Rono, argued that the firms were engaging growers contracted to KTDA in an illegal business venture because their permits do not allow them to buy green leaf from other growers.
He said the factories had expected to receive good supplies of green leaf this season following the onset of heavy rains, but the latest strategy by the farmers could impact negatively on operations.
Rono wondered why the farmers were readily accepting the Sh7 per kilogramme of green leaf offered by the multinational firms, while rejecting the agency’s Sh9.
Farmers interviewed by The Standard, however, argued that KTDA demands 85 per cent leave quality, while the firms have not set any standards. KTDA has enlisted farmers in a fertilizer scheme as an incentive. The agency is also grading area feeder roads, but the move failed to influence the farmers to change their stand.
KTDA Managing Director, Lelionka Tiampati, said the agency could not adjust the producer prices upwards owing to the bad global prices at the auction market.
