New tea factory to benefit Kenyan farmers

Farmers in the South Rift valley of Kenya are set to benefit from a new and more technically advanced tea factory, which was officially opened by President Mwai Kibaki in mid-May. The new miller, Tirgaga Tea Factory, boasts of some of the most modern equipment in the industry, and is expected to reap the benefits of automation in terms of speed and efficiency.

Speaking during the launch, the Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) managing director Lerinoka Tiampati, said the factory would cater for the increased tea production in the area, and would have an immediate impact on the sector. "The growers are now able to pluck more and spend less time in buying centres, which reduces fatigue and frees valuable hours for other economic activities," he said.

The factory's production manager says it is operating on two lines of production, which doubles the operational capacity, and that plans are under way to establish a third line. The KTDA-affiliated company is an initiative by small-scale farmers in Bomet, who pulled together resources to put up the 440 million Shillings ($7 million) processor. "The farmers raised Sh150 million ($2 million) and the deficit was bridged with a bank loan, which were are currently servicing," explained the factory chairman Joseph Koech. He said the factory had a capacity to process 16 million kilogrammes of the beverage annually, as opposed to currently operational factories, which do an average of 10 million. He added that the automation of most of the operations gave room for improved quality control, saying KTDA is set to get an improved tea quality from the factory because of the move.

The location of the company in the extreme end of the South Rift is also expected to alleviate transportation problems over the poor road network, since it has considerably reduced the distance between the farms and the factories. The president lauded the efforts by the farmers, saying that although the current price of tea in the global markets were low, there were signs of better prospects, hence the need to intensify the investment.

Daily Nation