The new KTDA chair Chege Kirundi has hit the road running and is currently putting in place mechanisms to make his new initiative of farmers’ first a reality.
In just a few since taking office, Kirundi has held meetings with senior management and recently all the 71 factory unit managers to strategize on how to roll out the road map to make sure farmers get maximum benefit from their investments
This is the first kind of a meeting held by the board and management since the new tea reforms in 2020.
He came in with a strategic vision that when fully implemented will see tea quality and volumes increase dramatically and in the process farmers’ incomes will also improve greatly.
Kirundi is focused on restructuring and enhancing operational efficiency across the tea supply chain, seeks to achieve better returns for the country’s smallholder farmers, address longstanding inefficiencies and position Kenya as global leader in the tea market.
He says his ultimate aim is on improving the farmer livelihoods by aligning KTDA’s operations with sustainable practices by achieving a balance between profitability and environmental and social responsibility.
Kirundi noted that climate change is reducing yields and quality of tea, ageing tea bushes, declining acreage under tea owing to land subdivision.
KTDA and its farmers contribute to about 60 per cent of all locally produced tea.
He said his strategy aims at repositioning KTDA on a long term sustainability trajectory with particular emphasis on addressing climate change challenges, enhancing value addition and expanding market opportunities especially in the African continent.
And in a bold new move to tackle the tea hawking menace threatening to cripple the multi-billion tea industry, Kirundi has met KTDA directors from West of Rift Valley where the menace is widespread.
Kirundi who has vowed to stump out the menace – recently banned by the government – discussed strategies to revitalize tea farming in the West of Rift and how the tea hawking menace can be completely eradicated.
Fresh impetus to fight the menace came after the government outlawed the tea hawking practice that has negatively KTDA factories in the West of Rift.
With the government ban on the disastrous tea hawking menace and a fresh team at the helm of the KTDA, Kenya’s tea industry and especially the farmers are approaching the future with confidence.
He said his plan is to enhance farmer incomes by revising the allocation of profits from KTDA’s subsidiaries and reducing input costs.
Farmers have welcomed the positive messages coming from the government and the industry and their key wish is that politics be kept out of the tea industry and the ban on hawking be implemented fully.
As the demand for tea continues to grow globally and local consumption increases an equivalent growth in returns is projected ensuring that the sector remains profitable going into the future.
The tea industry remains a critical pillar of the national economy and supports thousands of farmers directly and many other players along the value chain.
Tea exports continue to be a major stabilizing factor of the Kenyan currency and the economy at large.
These gains that have been built over the years mainly by the farmers who have ensured proper crop husbandry so as to maintain the high quality of tea – that fetches premium prices.
