The East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) has moved to court seeking suspension of more sections of the newly enacted Tea Act arguing that they are discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Kenya is positioning tea tours as part of top tourism experiences that will add to the diversity of tourism products offered by the destination.
This week’s rebound signals better returns for farmers whose final earnings are determined by the price margins at the weekly tea auction in Mombasa. •The total volume traded this week was 163,604 kilos less than last week where total volumes closed at 8.2 million, compared to 8.4 million last week.
•In a similar sale last year, a kilo averaged $2.25 (245.72). •Auction prices determine farmers’ final earnings.
Kenya is giving a tough competition to India’s black tea exporters in the global markets at a time when the ongoing pandemic has already impacted the country’s exports of the commodity.
ea production for the month of March 2020 in Kenya reached an all-time high of 55.7 million kilograms against 26.5 million kilos recorded during the corresponding month in 2019.
How a crop that contributes 23 per cent of the total foreign exchange was left without guidance from the government has always baffled people. KTDA and its barons ensured that no such competitor arose and they worked with cartels in the ministry of Agriculture to frustrate any reforms.
The Kenya Tea Development Agency is encouraging farmers and factories under it to invest in growing and processing of orthodox tea to supplement dwindling returns derived from traditional black tea.
In the Rift Valley, some of the tea firms in Nandi, Kericho and Bomet counties have reduced shifts and cut down on the number of casual workers as they apply guidelines, including social distancing, to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Kenya’s sole tea auction Monday stopped operations over the government’s rule limiting mass gatherings, cutting 95 percent of the country’s tea supply to the export market and pointing to a hit on farmers’ earnings.