Kenya Tea Development Agency management has
announced it has imported
88,000 metric tonnes of NPK 26:5:5 fertiliser for distribution to small scale tea farmers countrywide.
The first batch of 44,000 tonnes of fertiliser arrived in Mombasa this week and received by a subsidiary of KTDA, the Chai Trading Company Limited.
The company is facilitating importation and distribution of the fertiliser to factories, jointly with KTDA field services. The second batch is expected to arrive on August 5.
Group chief executive officer KTDA Lerionka Tiampati said applying fertiliser to tea bushes increases tea production and boosts quality of green leaf. “Application of fertiliser at the onset of the short rains is necessary to ensure consistent high quality and quantity of tea,” he said in a statement.
He said importing huge quantities of fertiliser enables KTDA to leverage on internal economies of scale, meaning a small holder tea farmer is able to buy a 50 kilo bag of the input at affordable pricing.
“As we conduct business, we focus on reducing the average cost of producing a kilo of green leaf while increasing its quality and productivity per bush through application of quality fertilizer. Already, KTDA has contracted about 1,100 trucks to ferry the fertiliser from Mombasa port to the factories upcountry thus creating employment opportunities for hundreds of youth,”
Tiampati said.
The quantity of fertiliser a farmer receives depends on the number of tea bushes owned. On average, a 50 kilogramme bag of fertiliser is applied to 700 bushes. The fertiliser requirement is usually determined in November and December ahead of procurement the following year.