Over 680,000 Tea Farmers Hold Breath as KTDA Confirms Bonus Announcement Dates
More than 680,000 smallholder tea farmers who supply green leaf to factories under the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) are waiting for this year’s bonus which will be announced in two weeks.
The second payment, commonly known as the bonus, is the highlight of the tea calendar in 21 counties where tea is a major source of income.
According to KTDA’s schedule, the announcement of factory specific rates will be rolled out between September 22 and 26. The first group including factories like Mogogsiek, Kobel, Boito, Kapset, Rorok, Kapkoros, Tirgaga, Olenguruine, and Motigo in the Western Rift will release their figures on September 22. The last will be on September 26 by Mt. Kenya factories like Rukuriri, Mungania, Kathangariri, Nduti, Ikumbi, Njunu, Gacharage, Makomboki, Ngere, Ragati, Iriaini, Chinga, Gitugi and Gathuti.
For the financial year ending June 30, 2024, KTDA paid a record Sh89.29 billion to farmers for green leaf deliveries. This was Sh21.5 billion more than Sh67.7 billion paid in 2023. Out of this amount Sh56.68 billion was paid as bonus, Sh32.61 billion as monthly payments and Sh1.04 billion as dividends – the highest dividend payout in KTDA’s history.
KTDA Holdings Chairperson, Chege Kirundi, assured farmers that the sector is resilient despite political tensions affecting traditional tea markets.
“There is hope in the tea industry and there is no reason to doubt that. We will navigate the challenges and make the sector profitable,” he said during a meeting in Bomet.
He emphasized the role of farmers in making the sector profitable by delivering high quality green leaf to factories.
The tea sector has been struggling with oversupply at the Mombasa Tea Auction where over 100 million kilos of processed tea remains unsold due to price caps introduced under the Tea Act, 2020. The government has since relaxed some of the Act’s provisions giving factories room to export directly.To increase revenue further, KTDA and government agencies are encouraging farmers to diversify into specialty teas – particularly orthodox teas – whose demand is growing in markets like Japan, Russia, China, Germany, Iran, France and the Middle East.
Kenya’s black CTC tea has traditionally been exported to markets like Pakistan, UK, Egypt, Sudan, Kazakhstan and Poland. KTDA is now looking at new markets in China, India, Korea, Australia, Switzerland, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and Morocco.
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Over 680,000 Tea Farmers Hold Breath as KTDA Confirms Bonus Announcement Dates