The government is hunting for new markets to take up surplus tea produced in the country at the moment.
Agriculture CS Willy Bett said Kenya's production has increased by more than 80 per cent, a situation that has seen prices fluctuate to the detriment of farmers.
He said tea prices at the Mombasa auction market has dropped by over 30 per cent.
“Currently, only five percent of the tea produced locally is consumed by Kenyans while the rest is exported to various countries,” Bett said in Naivasha on Wednesday.
The CS made the statement when he opened the 22nd
section of the FAO-IGG conference on tea.
He said price fluctuation remains the biggest challenges facing the sector further noting that Kenya is currently the third leading tea producer after China and India.
In a bid to improve consumption, the CS said that the government had diversified tea processing licenses so as to attract more investors into the sector.
“Tea earned the country $1.25 billion (Sh125 billion) in the last financial year and this is an increase of 23 per cent compared to 2014 when the product recorded $1.01 billion (Sh101 billion),” he said.
He said that the government was committed to supporting the sector through various measures like offering subsidized fertilizer and reducing the cost of energy.
“The 13 African tea producing countries export their tea through the Mombasa auction underscoring Kenya’s significance as a hub of tea trade in the continent,” he said.
The CS added that in 2015, globally tea production hit 5.1 billion kilos with Africa producing 592 million kilos, accounting for 13 per cent of the production.
The forum was also attended by delegates from various parts of the world.
On his part, FAO representative in the meeting Kaison Wang noted that in 2014 tea production globally fell by 2.4 per cent.
“This drop resulted in an estimated 4.4 per cent decline in export volumes to $5.61 billion (Sh563 billion) at the global level,” said Wang.
He was however quick to note that the revenue generated from the product contributed significantly to financing food import bills for tea exporting countries.
“Although foreign exchange earnings from tea were relatively less for the other producing countries, they remained significant,” he said.