No light at end of tunnel for Nandi tea farmers

Nandi, Kenya: Tea farmers in Nandi Country are a worried lot as earnings from produce delivered to Government factories continue dropping.

Bothered by the trend, the group last week sought the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta during his tour of the area. It was one of the key concerns highlighted by Chesumei MP Elijah Lagat, who also complained about the decline in milk prices.

Earlier in the month, Wilson Tuwei, chairman of Small Scale Tea Outgrowers in Nandi and Paul Mugun, the vice chairman of Siret Tea Company, called for intervention by the State.

“Unions are on our necks demanding 10 per cent wage increment this year for their members. Farmers still meet additional pay for transport, manufacturing and warehousing. This affects profit margins,” said Mugun.

They said a multinational company that paid the highest cumulatively in first and second payments (bonus) released Sh36 per kilo this year. “Although it was a drop by Sh9 per kilo of green leaf tea compared to last year, it was better because some firms paid lower while some did not declare bonus,” said Mugun. Tuwei said the trade was no longer lucrative and some farmers were contemplating uprooting the crop to venture into cost-effective ventures such as blue gum farming.

“The tea sector has been the country’s leading foreign exchange earner but is currently fetching the least earnings that may lead to collapse of the sector,” said Tuwei, adding that declining exchange rates, operational costs and farm inputs have remained a major challenge.

Dwindling prices

When President Kenyatta visited the area last week, he only tasked key agricultural agencies to concentrate on value addition to increase the price of local produce in the international markets, while discouraging age-old practice of merely auctioning tea at the Mombasa Port.

“We want to begin seeing jobs being exported created here at home for our young men and women through value addition processes,” he urged. He also told the agencies to explore new international markets for the product instead of concentrating on the conventional traditional markets.

“The problem is we have done very well in increasing tea production over the years but have done little to explore new markets yet we have unexplored markets, including within the African continent and even China, even if they do not necessarily consume the kind of tea we produce,” the President said.

His response was seen as way too little too late by farmers who wanted a more direct answer to their woes. Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter was concerned over the gradual collapse of the tea sector, with the bonus slowly declining every year.

“The bonus dropped by a margin of eight to Sh22 last year and is experiencing a further Sh6 decline down to Sh14 this year,” he said.

“Dairy farmers have not been paid their dues by KCC for the last three months which we see as a deliberate attempt to kill the only public entity to pave way for private monopolies,” he claimed.

Deputy President William Ruto was optimistic that the Government would fund rehabilitation of the Chepterit-Kimondi-Kaiboi-Ndalat-Eldoret road. However, Keter noted the Government owes the contractors.

The DP was emphatic that the Government had settled about 2,800 Embobut Forest evictees in Elgeyo/Marakwet and another 1,000 in Uasin Gishu and Nandi counties in the first year, leaving just about 300 that will soon be sorted out by the Devolution ministry.

“Their welfare has been catered for in this year’s budget because we also want them to lead decent lives just like any other Kenyans,” he said.

But the Nandi Hills legislator said the figures are a far cry from the actual number of more than 2,000 yet to be resettled.

President Kenyatta was accompanied by several Jubilee leaders when he made his first maiden tour into tea plantations of Nandi County in an apparent charm offensive. He commissioned the Kipchabo Tea Factory.

But immediately after he left, some tea farmers were up in arms talking in hushed tones over the President’s failure to address their plight and instead delving into countering opposition politics and tongue lashing Jubilee renegades from the region.