This archive report was first published on 14 May 2021.
On May 14, 2021, the Kenyan government announced its commitment to work with the newly elected Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) directors to reform the troubled tea sector.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi stated that the focus would be on rooting out unscrupulous middlemen and implementing President Uhuru Kenyatta's tea reforms in the sector.
"These reforms will happen, and we are going to stay on this course until this sector is reformed," Matiangi said.
As part of the reforms, the Ministry of Agriculture had gazetted new tea regulations the previous year, which stipulated that all tea produced in Kenya should be sold through the auction process and licensed tea auction organizers.
The regulations also recommended that tea farmers who market their product through the Kenya Tea Development Agency be paid 50 percent of the delivery monthly, with the rest paid as a bonus annually.
Early in 2021, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya warned that the government would not allow cartels and unscrupulous players in the tea sector to derail the implementation of new regulations.
"We cannot continue derailing the implementation of the new regulations as farmers are eagerly waiting to get maximum benefits of the new laws. Those fighting the regulations are the people who exploit farmers and live a better life when farmers languish in poverty," Munya said during a farmer's engagement meeting in Muranga County on January 22.
