New technology promises to cut tea production costs

The tea sector is exploring innovative technologies to cut production costs.

On Wednesday, a section of farmers were taken through a new technology known as gasification by experts with a view to making the sector profitable.

The workshop in Nairobi sought to prove to the Kenyan tea sector that gasification technology using pruning residue and other renewable biomass resources can help cut production costs.

Participants were shown how innovation can improve the reliability and cost of power, decarbonising heat, and the benefits of applying biochar to the Kenya tea sector.

The panelists said the new gasification technology is an affordable, efficient, carbon-negative and reliable energy source for production that also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and enhances fertiliser efficiency and better green leaf yield on farms.

Dr Dries Roobroeck from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture said there are a number of benefits associated with gasification technology.

“Tea factories use a lot of fuel. Gasification will help generate electricity,” he said.

Biomass gasification is a technological pathway that uses a controlled process involving heat, steam, and oxygen to convert biomass to hydrogen and other products without combustion.

Biochar produced from the process is used as fertiliser.

Roobroeck said biochar is useful in improving the water retention capacity of soil.

“It also helps regenerate the soil and increase yields,” he said.

Roobroeck said the tea sector was chosen for the new technology as it is organised.

The technology has been used in other countries such as Norway, China and Brazil.

Innovate UK Energy Catalyst provided the funds to the tune of 250,000 pounds.

The project is being run by a consortium composed of IITA, CoREGEN, The Grass Company, Innovate UK and Compact Syngas UK.

During the session, experts presented results from the gasification tests using tea pruning biomass.

Biomass from tea bushes in Limuru was shipped to the UK for processing and testing.

Roobroeck said 75 per cent of the biomass pruned from tea is taken to undergo the process on specialised machines.

Twenty-five per cent is left to protect the soil.

Smallholder tea farmers in the country account for around 65 per cent of the total tea production.

The remaining 35 per cent is in the hands of multinationals.

Small-scale farming has helped many communities secure their livelihoods.

Tea farming is also a crucial forex earner for the country.

Kenya is the third leading producer of tea and the biggest exporter, accounting for 28 per cent of the world's tea exports.

In 2021, the sector earned the country Sh136 billion in foreign exchange.

Dr Francis Ochieng from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology's Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology said the challenge with technology transfer is how to use and maintain it locally.

“Sustainable, renewable and cost-effective technology is needed,” he said.

Ochieng said there is a need to train those working in factories in anticipation of the new technology.

Kipngeno Mutai from Kapkoros Tea Factory in Bomet county said his factory produces over 100 million kilos of tea each year and the cost of power is very high.

Mutai said there is a need to build the capacity of farmers in anticipation of the new technology.

David Koinange, a tea farmer from Limuru, said after piloting of the new technology his yields have improved.

Koinange said his tea yield has shot up from five per cent three years ago to seven percent last year.

For the new technology to be installed, some $2.5 million (Sh406 million) is needed.

Experts said the rollout of the new technology will save forests and create carbon credits.

Other feedstocks that can be used for gasification include bamboo, eucalyptus and sisal.