- President Ruto orders a tea value addition plant at Mombasa port to boost farmers’ earnings.
- The government sets aside Ksh850 million to modernise underperforming tea factories.
- Farmers are urged to demand accountability over wide disparities in tea bonus payments.
President William Ruto has ordered the construction of a large tea value addition plant at the Port of Mombasa, saying farmers should earn more from the leaf they grow.
He said the facility will process tea close to the point of export, so that more of the crop leaves the country as finished products. Investors will also be encouraged to build their own value addition plants alongside the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). In addition, the President approved 50 acres of land for the agency to expand its processing capacity.
Ruto spoke while taking questions from farmers at the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Summit in Nairobi. Many of the questions centred on the uneven returns farmers receive from tea factories.
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The President pointed to a wide gap in this year’s bonus payments. Some factories rewarded their farmers with as much as Ksh50 for every kilogramme of green leaf delivered. Others managed only Ksh12.
He blamed the difference mainly on how some factories are run, and on ageing machinery that wastes energy and slows production. To address the second problem, he said the government has set aside Ksh850 million to modernise factories that are lagging behind.
Ruto also placed some responsibility on farmers themselves. He urged them to vote for factory directors who will push for better payouts, and to openly question why payments differ from one factory to the next.
By Benedict Aoya
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