Tea growers to get Sh42 billion bonus in a fortnight

Tea farmers affiliated to the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) will in about a fortnight start receiving Sh42 billion final payment popularly known as bonus.

KTDA is processing the money announced last month for the 2016/2017 financial year.

KTDA head of corporate communication Ndiga Kithae confirmed the payment.

“We have always been paying farmers at the end of October, this is a tradition every year,” Mr Kithae said in an interview yesterday. The growers will earn Sh42 billion as the second payment. This is lower by Sh2 billion when compared with a record high of Sh44 billion that producers earned last year.

Industry report from KTDA indicates that farmers will get 76 per cent of the Sh78 billion turnover realised in the current financial year, up from 75 per cent in 2016. Small-scale farmers earnings dropped by four per cent from Sh84 billion last year to Sh78 billion this year on account of drought that cut production by 20 per cent.

The record earnings to growers 2015/2016 financial year was attributed to increased sales that stood at 272 million kilogrammes compared with 233 million kilos registered in the current financial year. Tea production for 2017 is expected to drop by 11 per cent due to the effects of drought in production that has cut volumes coming in from the farms.

Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) says production of green leaf will drop from 473 million kilos produced in 2016 to about 420 million kilos this year.

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