The tea industry in Kenya's Nandi District has lost about Sh10 billion ($153 million) following the post-election violence that hit the country, a trade union estimated.
Kenya Plantations and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU) said that 14 tea factories in the area were losing an average of Sh1 billion daily.
National treasurer, Joshua Oyuga, said Nandi Tea company with five factories was losing an average of Sh10 million daily while Eastern Produce, with seven factories, was losing almost 100 million daily.
Other affected tea factories include Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) and the Nyayo tea zones.
Mr Oyuga said all the factories in the area had closed down operations following the violence.
“The violence has also affected tea industries in Kericho District where more than 20 factories are currently shut,” added Mr Oyuga. He said the closure of the factories had affected the livelihood of more than 35,000 who were unable to report to duty. "They cannot crush green tea leaves as hundreds of casual workers involved in tea plucking have been displaced,” he said.
Eastern Group of Companies general manager Jacob Kata said: “Operations in almost all tea factories have been paralysed. Most tea bushes are over grown as most workers have vacated tea estates to safe areas. We are likely to incur massive losses unless the violence is contained.”
At the same time, sugarcane farmers in Nandi South and Nyando Districts have expressed fears of heavy losses after their plantations were set on fire by arsonists. A survey indicated that thousands of hectares of sugarcane plantations in the two districts were set on fire following the post-election violence.
A farmer of Chemelil sugar belt, Mr Benjamin Kipketer Tai, said his 102 acre sugarcane plantation was set ablaze after the just concluded general election. “I incurred a loss of more than Sh15 million after my sugarcane plantation was burnt by the protestors,” he said.
