Bomet farmers hail Ruto’s tea branding and marketing initiative

Farmers in Bomet have welcomed the initiative by President William Ruto to develop a brand that will fetch the best prices for their tea.

Addressing journalists at his Tegat home, their spokesman Philiph Ngeno echoed the President's sentiments on the branding and marketing of Kenyan tea.

He said the move will help uplift the living standards of the farmers who have sweating and toiling to produce the tea.

Ngeno said that branding needs to include the place of origin to attract more foreign customers in various parts of the world.

“Branding is very essential for a tea factory like Motigo. For example, the place of origin of our products should be included in the packets exported to various countries,” Ngeno said.

Ruto said Kenya’s tea should be branded to increase its visibility in the global market and labelling it with a mark of origin.

He spoke when he met Kenya Tea Development Agency factory chairmen and directors at State House on Tuesday.

The President pointed out that brand sustainability is very crucial in a competitive business environment.

He further expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, saying Kenya continues to sell unprocessed tea and denying farmers the best prices in the market.

"Failure to properly package and brand the products in a competitive marketing environment will result in farmers acquiring little or no profit," Ngeno said.

Kenya is among the largest tea producers in the world, yet it doesn’t have a distinct Kenyan tea brand.

Consequently, its product gets lower prices than those from countries that produce less tea.

President Ruto has been at the forefront of ensuring farmers are provided with basic needs to produce the best in agriculture.

This includes abolishing some taxes on the packaging and branding of Kenya’s tea.

"Last year, we abolished taxes on packaging materials for tea. Consequently, we must now broaden our common user facilities and enhance the value of our tea," Ruto stated.

Kenya’s tea industry is a significant contributor to the economy; therefore, brand sustainability is crucial in a competitive business environment.

Ngeno also applauded the Head of State for allowing the Kenya Forest Service and KTDA to sign an agreement to enable tea factories to participate in the country’s 15 billion tree-planting programme, allowing them to harvest trees in various forests for their wood fuel.

He noted that farmers have not been getting enough due to the high costs of producing tea.

“I want to thank the President for connecting farmers to electricity. This will reduce production costs, hence benefiting us, the farmers,” Ngeno said.

He used the opportunity to appeal to tea farmers to elect credible directors who will steer the tea sector to economic prosperity in the upcoming polls.

The former KTDA director said farmers have a duty to scrutinise every leader seeking directorship so as to get the best leaders without a tainted image.