Nandi hills: Nandi County governor Stephen Sang has called on the national government to invest in the tea sector by providing targeted grants and adopting strategies to modernize tea factories as a measure to ensure quality outputs that can enhance good returns in the auction market. Sang, who was speaking during the Sireet Out Growers Empowerment and Producer (OEP) company Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Nandi Hills, divulged that the current factories are relying on outdated traditional methods that deny tea farmers good prices in the market.
According to Kenya News Agency, Sang highlighted recent disparities in tea bonuses and prices, pointing out significant differences between east and west of the Rift. He expressed concern over the reliance on an outdated system in the tea sector, emphasizing the need for modern technology to address challenges affecting tea prices.
Governor Sang noted that the traditional manual tea tasting methods foster bias, inconsistency, and unfair disparities, depriving farmers of rightful earnings. He advocated for reforms to replace these methods with modern tasting technologies, such as blind tasting and digital tasting using scientific tools like near-infrared spectroscopy, to ensure objective, transparent, and consistent quality assessments.
The county boss urged that such advancements would restore fair tea pricing and strengthen Kenya's credibility in the global market. He emphasized that tea farmers deserve a system that rewards quality without prejudice.
Additionally, Governor Sang praised the Sireet OEP company tea farmers for their continued investment in the sector and encouraged more farmers to participate in this farmer-owned enterprise. Wilson Tuwei, chairman of Sireet OEP, supported Sang's views, revealing that farmers were significantly affected by a drastic drop in tea bonus prices this year. He called for government intervention to reform the tea sector and ensure higher prices for the benefit of tea farmers.