Nyeri tea farmers to earn Sh600 million in bonuses

Smallholder tea farmers in Nyeri County are expected to earn Sh600 million as part of a Sh38.92 billion bonus windfall allocated to Central Kenya.

The majority of tea factories in the county have doubled their bonus payments compared with last year, said KTDA Company Secretary Patrick Ngunjiri yesterday.

The main bonus will be paid by July 8, under reforms introduced in the 2020 Tea Act.

At Gathuthi Tea Factory, farmers will receive Sh40 for a kilogramme of green leaf compared with Sh20 paid in the previous financial year.

Farmers affiliated to Gitugi Tea Factory will receive Sh41 per kilo, up from last year’s Sh25.

At Iriaini Tea Factory, the bonus payment was Sh17 per kilo last year but that has risen to Sh34.

At Chinga Tea Factory, farmers will receive Sh33 per kilo, up from Sh19 last year.

Growers affiliated to Ragati Tea Factory will receive Sh31 per kilo, up from last year’s Sh17.

“The rate of bonus that is expected has already been released and it will immensely boost our tea farmers. These reforms have resulted in an increment of Sh600 million in Othaya for tea farmers,” Mr Ngunjiri said.

“We have good news for the 650,000 tea farmers in Kenya. We have started witnessing better yields that are resulting from major reforms in the sector that were started by the government since 2020. We have continued implementing reforms in the tea sector.”

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya said recently that this year’s bonus is expected to be the highest across tea-growing counties since 2016.

In the 2022/2023 financial year, the government has budgeted for distributing subsidised fertiliser to tea farmers to lower the cost of production.

Mr Munya said KTDA was engaging tea brokers to reduce brokerage and management agency fees, saying this would save tea farmers over Sh1 billion annually and result in more earnings for growers.

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