Business and Economic News By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisii Town.

MEMBERS of the Small Scale Tea Owners Association from the South Rift and Kisii region held the Association’s executive committee meeting here at the weekend, during which several far-reaching resolutions were passed.

One of the resolution called upon the Kenya Tea Development Agency {KTDA} which is managing all the rurally situated tea processing factories through Kenya to ensure that the number of directors serving in each KTDA managed factory is cut down from the present six to three.

Tea is grown ib abundance in the South Rift region of Kericho and Bomet Counties, and also in Gusii region of Nyamira and Kisii Counties.Other growing zone are in the South and North Nandi districts, Nyeri, Meru.Kiambu and other parts of Central Province.

Tea has since taken over the export market from coffee and has become Kenya’s greatest assets minting millions of dollar annually ,especially the scarce foreign exchange.

The KTDA is managing close to 60 green leaves processing tea factories throughout Kenya apart from the large scale plantation and factories, which are owned and managed by the multinational foreign companies.

This, they said, would be one of the moves to cut down expenses which over- burdened the tea farmers and improves the earning of farmers.

The tea farmers also want those people who are already serving in other field such as school teachers barred from contesting the position of directors of the tea factories. This, they say, would be in line with the policy and spirit of “One Man One Job” as contained therein the new constitution dispensation.

The meeting was jointly chaired by Patrick Ongoto, the regional chairman and Joel Arap Chepkwony {Bwana Maendeleo} the South Rift region’s chairman of the association.

Other contentious issues raised at the meeting were the question of ownership of the tea factories, which are under the management of the KTDA.

Some of these factories were constructed with funds sourced from financial institutions and banks by the KTDA on behalf of local tea growers. And were established many years ago, but the KTDA continued deducting farmer’s money for phantom loans, which in actual sense had already been repaid many years ago.

They challenged the KTDA to come out clean over issues, and also want the Tea Board of Kenya, which is the regulating authority in the tea industry to intervene and look into the matter.

They also queried the positions of other assets, which belonged to the farmers such as warehouses, which are located in the coastal town of Mombasa, where tea product meant for exports are stored and wanted to know who is benefiting from the monthly rental money paid by the tenants. How is this money benefiting the farmers, who are automatically the owners of these properties?

Owing to the sky rocketing prices of farm input and high labor cost, the farmers want the prices of the green tea leaves delivered and process at the KTDA managed factories increase from Kshs 12.50 to Kshs 50/- per kg.

The increment, they argued must be effected immediately because of inputs and maintenance of tea bushes have gone up threshold. The bushes require application of fertilizers at regular intervals, weeding and pruning, making tea one of the most expensive cash crops in the country.

The Tea Board of Kenya is the regulatory body in the tea industry, while the Kenya Tea Development Agency is a quasi-government authority, which is managing close to 60 tea factories established in various tea growing zones through Kenya.

KTDA is a semi-parastatal organization, and it managed these tea processing factories on behalf of the local tea growers who are maintaining deliveries to the processing plants on daily basis to keep them running. These farmers are subjected to monthly deduction of their earning from the deliveries, the money which is said to be for the replenishment of the loans used for the construction of the factories.

But some of the factories were established close to twenty years ago, and whatever loans owed the financial institutions is believed to have been cleared, though the farmer continued paying back the purported loan money.

The farmers are high up in arms demanding that the position of those factories which were established close to twenty years ago be clarified as far as loans obtained from financial institutions and banks are concerned, and where the loan is already cleared the ownership should revert to the farmers.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com