Sunday, October 10, 2024 – Tea farmers have called for a review of the Tea Act to
address the challenges in the sector, which they claim have been engineered by
cartels.
Addressing members of the
National Assembly Committee on Agriculture and Livestock during a public
hearing, the farmers from the West Rift tea growing region attributed the
recent poor payment of bonuses to cartel manipulation at the Mombasa auction.
They told the committee, led by
the vice chairman and Konoin MP Brighton Yegon, that the Act aims to improve
the management of the 69 tea factories owned by small-holder farmers in 21
counties.
The factory units are run as
autonomous companies but managed by the farmers-owned Kenya Tea Development
Agency (KTDA).
The committee held its final
sitting in Mogogosiek, Kapkoros, Nyansiongo, and Kiamokama tea factories in
Bomet, Nyamira, and Kisii counties.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
