NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 21 – Tea farmers in Muranga are expecting high leaf production following the onset of the long rainy season from March to June.
Low tea production was impacted by a prolonged drought in growing areas.
A farmer from Kiambuthia area in Mathioya Julius Muraya told KNA that the majority of farmers from the sub county were harvesting about 10 to 20 kilos of green leaf, down from over 100 kilos they used to harvest during wet seasons.
Muraya observed that low production led to decreased monthly earnings, forcing them to source for loans from various financial institutions.
“The production since January has been affected by drought. Harvesting about 20 kilos of green leaf is not near enough to make any meaningful earnings. This has forced some of us to accrue loans from banks and Saccos.” Explained Muraya.
Each of the 10 KTDA-allied tea factories in Murang’a has the capacity to process more than 240, 000 kilos of green leaf on a daily basis, but due to the drought, the factory is currently receiving roughly 40, 000 kilos.
Some tea factory chairpersons, including Chege Kirundi (Kiru), Michael Kamau Ngatia (Iria Ini), Samson Kaguma (Gatunguru), and Muthoni Waithanji (Gitugi), confirmed that all the factories were operating below capacity due to decreased production of green leaf.
They revealed that green leaf plucking days have been reduced to four to allow the factories to operate at their optimum.
“We have organised the farmers in such a way to ensure we remain operational and sell our teas,” said Kirundi.
On his part, Kaguma observed that the Gatunguru tea factory was operating at 40 percent capacity and getting between 20,000 and 30,000 kilos of green leaf daily.
