Nominated Kisii Senator Essy Okenyuri has raised concern over glaring disparities in tea bonus payments this year.
She said most disadvantaged are farmers from Kisii and Nyamira counties who she said were constantly “being unfairly disadvantaged” compared to their counterparts in other regions.
Kenya Tea Development Authority has since attributed the decline to a slump in the global economy.
While farmers in Mt. Kenya region receive bonuses averaging Sh50 per kilo, those in Kisii and Nyamira are earning as little as Sh12 per kilo, observed Okenyuri.
“This glaring disparity continues to cause deep frustration and triggered anger, the farmers feel shortchanged and discriminated against despite producing tea that is sold in the same international markets,” she said.
The discriminative bonus payouts, stated Okenyuri, was a powder keg for possible unrests.
Already, some farmers, enraged with the insulting rates, have uprooted their tea farmers while others have vandalised the collection centres in protest.
These discrepancies, she said only, reignite questions about KTDA’s pricing and distribution systems, and whether smallholder farmers in certain regions are being systematically disadvantaged.
She was speaking Thursday at the Senate.
“Mr. Speaker, Sir, the bonus discrepancies are only leaving many farmers disillusioned, believing their sweat and toil is not being fairly rewarded. This is a matter of transparency and fairness,” Okenyuri emphasized.
She further cautioned that inequities in bonus payments risk destabilising Kenya’s tea sector, which remains one of the country’s leading foreign exchange earners and supports millions of families.
Okenyuri called on the government, in collaboration with KTDA and other stakeholders, to urgently review the disparities and take decisive measures to restore fairness, equity, and confidence among farmers in Kisii, Nyamira, and other affected regions.
KTDA said the drop in this year’s bonuses to the over 680,000 tea farmers was due to shifting global tea market trends.
In a statement, the authority says that this year’s second payout to the smallholder tea farmers was largely affected by the weaker exchange rate of the Kenya Shilling against the US dollar.
Whereas in 2024, the Kenya Shilling traded at an average of Sh144 to the dollar this year, the rate averaged at Sh129 that even in instances when the international tea prices were stable, the amount realized in Kenya Shillings remained significantly lower.
“The drop in earnings is mainly attributed to international market conditions and currency exchange movements that were less favourable compared to last year. While understandably disappointing to many, this year’s final payout is a direct reflection of the global trading conditions beyond KTDA’s control,” read the statement.
Tea growing counties in the West Rift have recorded the highest dip.
For instance the price of tea made for factories in Kericho was Sh245 representing a Sh101 drop while the price of tea for factories in Bomet was Sh209 representing a drop of Sh85 from last year’s earnings.
A kilogram of tea from factories in Nyamira was purchased at Sh266 representing a Sh106 drop whereas a kilo of tea from Kisii was Sh246 representing a Sh95 drop.
For Nandi and Vihiga a kilo of made tea fetched Sh208 representing Sh66 drop.
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