President: Tea prices up 42%
Government introduces a raft of measures to strengthen agriculture-based co-operatives.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that government-initiated reforms have pushed tea prices by 42% in the last year.
The President said transformation in the tea sector had liberated it from the cartels as performance improved with a minimum auction price of tea standing at $3 per kilo, the highest in five years.
“It is expected that our tea farmers will receive a healthy bonus at the end of June 2022, signaling a return to the good old days of “Chai Bora; Pesa Bora”,” he said, during Mashujaa day address.
In the coffee sector, the President reported that sustained efforts rooted out corrupt co-operatives that have been predating coffee farmers.
“The revitalization of New KPCU by the Government has brought healthy competition into coffee milling activities. As a result, farmers in high yielding areas like in Kirinyaga are now receiving upwards of Ksh 100 per kilogramme for their coffee, up from an average of KSh. 25 per kilogramme in 2019,” he said.
President Uhuru also noted that milk production and prices have increased after the Government introduced a pricing guideline. This has seen the farm gate prices increase from KSh 27 per litre in January 2020 to a high of KSh 40 per litre as of September 2021.
He directed Kenya National Trading Corporation to purchase all the rice from Mwea and Kano Plains to sell to disciplined forces, prisons services, and boarding schools.
The President cited Mwea Rice Growers Co-operative achievements, which he said had sold the most bags of rice to the Government, generating a total revenue of KSh 1 billion.
To safeguard the gains made in the Tea Sub-Sector, he directed the National Treasury to allocate KSh 1 Billion in support of fertilizer subsidy for Tea Farmers.
The Sugar Sub-Sector will benefit from a Ksh1.5 billion fund towards factory maintenance and payment of farmer’s arrears.
The National Treasury was also directed to allocate KSh1 Billion towards completing the ongoing targeted interventions in the Coffee Sub-Sector.
