Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development Mutahi Kagwe says new strategies to ensure timely tea sales and better prices are underway.
He further announced that good progress has been achieved in clearing the unsold tea with only 3% percent unsold tea remaining.
He said the remaining 3.7MKgs of tea will be sold in due course and all the backlog cleared.
Kagwe made the remarka when he visited the Chai Trading Company warehouses in Miritini, Mombasa, to assess progress in addressing challenges in Kenya’s tea sector.
As a subsidiary of Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) — Holdings Limited responsible for marketing Kenyan tea globally, Chai Trading plays a key role in enhancing the industry’s global footprint.
Commending the contractor building the Common User Facility at Chai Trading, the CS noted that the project will be completed ahead of schedule.
He also inspected ongoing extensions to the warehouse infrastructure —an initiative set to reduce farmers’ costs on storage.
The visit highlighted advanced systems and processes being implemented to improve tea quality, volume, traceability, and value, strengthening brand Kenya’s competitiveness in global markets and maximizing farmers’ earnings.
Significant progress has been made in clearing unsold tea. Following a presidential directive, 97% of the 106M kgs of surplus tea at the Mombasa auction has been sold, leaving only 3.7M kgs.
He said new strategies are underway to ensure timely sales for better returns.
Kagwe underscored the importance of collaboration in overcoming challenges in the tea trade, including the formation of a Tea Council to unite stakeholders in advancing the shared goal of increasing farmers’ incomes.
The CS was accompanied by among others, KTDA chairman Chege Kirundi and CEO Wilson Muthaura as well as Tea Board of Kenya CEO Willy Mutai.
