Embu tea factories announce drop in bonus payment

Tea factories in Embu have announced a drop in second payment to farmers in the financial year 2020-21.

Rukuriri tea factory in Embu has emerged the top paid in this year’s bonus as all factories in Zone Six marked a drop in amounts.

In the bonus announced on October 1, Rukuriri tea factory which is located at Runyenjes in Embu East, managed a total of Sh30.10, a Sh0.80 drop from last year.

The bonus has marked a dropping trend since 2018 which was attributed to poor management, calling for more reforms in the sector.

The new reforms which included change of leadership in respective factories is anticipated to achieve Sh50 per kilo in 2021-22 year which started in July 2021 to June 2022.   

Other factories in Zone Six include Mungania tea factory, which attained Sh28.10, a Sh1.90 drop from the previous year.

Kathangariri, which held the top position in the zone last year with Sh31.50, dropped with Sh4.35.

The payment declarations come against a backdrop of an 8.3 per cent drop in CTC tea prices at the Mombasa Tea Auction from an average of Sh263.23 last financial year (2019-2020) to Sh241.11 in the 2020-2021 financial year ending June 30.

KTDA Holdings chairman David Ichoho said the farmers will receive payments in their respective accounts by the end of October.

"The factories have already directly communicated to their farmers about these rates. Generally, the rate per kilo does not vary much from those of the previous financial years,” he said.

A report by Kenya Tea Development Agency on September 16 shows an immense decline in this year’s green leaf delivery of 1.28 billion kilos compared to last year’s 1.45 billion kilos which translated to a 14 per cent decrease.

This is among the considered factors that led to decreased rates in the factories.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)