This archive report was first published on 17 November 2021.
Published on November 17, 2021
Tea farmers in Embu County are unhappy with the lower bonus payments they received for the 2020-21 financial year.
The farmers, who received their awaited bonus at a lower rate, claim their dues should have been higher compared to last year.
Embu County has three factories - Rukuriri, Mungania, and Kathangariri - which announced a drop in the bonus for the second year running.
The bonus rates for the factories were Sh30.10, Sh28.10, and Sh31.50, respectively, recording drops of Sh0.80, Sh1.90, and Sh4.35 from last year.
Tea farmers had been pushing for the fast-tracking of reforms in the sector, which they hoped would lead to an improved bonus for individual farmers.
Embu secretary Tea Producers of Kenya, Mr. Joseph Njeru, said the money disbursed should reduce by individual farmers' delivery, not by the overall delivery.
"The money disbursed should reduce by individual farmers' delivery and not by the overall delivery," Njeru said.
Reforms spearheaded by the government through the Ministry of Agriculture and endorsed by the National Assembly aimed to attain Sh50 per kilo in 2021-22 year bonus.
However, the Mombasa Tea Auction saw an 8.3 percent drop in CTC tea prices from an average of Sh263.23 last financial year (2019-2020) to Sh241.11 in the 2020-2021 financial year.
Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) Holdings chairman David Ichoho said the rate per kilo did not vary much from those of the previous financial years.
A KTDA report of September 16 showed a drop in this year's green leaf delivery of 1.28 billion kilos from last year's 1.45 billion kilos, translating to a 14 percent decrease.
