The Kenyan government has allocated Ksh1 billion ($7.7 million) to aid in the construction of two value addition and branding centres for Kenyan tea.
Speaking during the launch of Chai Gold, the flagship tea brand of the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) for the international market at Ketepa Grounds in Kericho County on Wednesday, President William Ruto said that Kenya is moving to the next level to add value, creating jobs, creating wealth.”
“The more we sell branded, processed tea, the bigger the earnings, the more the jobs we create and the more the enterprises we create,” said Ruto.
President Ruto told KTDA to set aside another Ksh1 billion ($7.7) to construct value addition facilities in Kericho and Nairobi to serve the Western Rift and Eastern Rift tea growing regions, respectively.
Ruto expressed concern that by 2022, a paltry 5 per cent of tea produced in Kenya annually was branded. However, with the government’s emphasis on value addition, the situation has improved to 9 per cent in less than two years.
He said the ultimate aim is to increase the value addition of tea to 5 million kilogrammes annually.
Thanks to subsidised fertiliser, the Kenyan leader said tea earnings are set to hit Ksh210 billion ($162 million) this year, up from Ksh180 billion ($139 million) last year and Ksh140 billion ($108 million) in 2022.
He asked the KTDA management to upgrade their facilities, automate their processes and support other smaller factories to add value and brand the agency’s teas.
“I want you to find ways of supporting our micro and small enterprises to take advantage of this common user facility so that we can expand the branding and value addition that is already going on,” he said.
President Ruto said following consultations with the Dutch conglomerate Unilever, owners of Lipton Teas, the global tea brand will now be sold with the tag “Origin of Kenya.”
For years, Lipton Teas was marketed and sold globally as “English Breakfast Tea,” yet wholly produced in Kenya, thus denying the country recognition of a crop it produces.
He said Lipton Tea has also agreed to set up a factory to produce fertiliser specifically suitable for tea and support a tea research programme at Kabianga University in Kericho.
He also called on KTDA to diversify to the orthodox tea brand, which is currently being produced by only 13 factories.
