KTDA chair Kirundi shares new vision for the agency

The new KTDA National Chairman, Mr Chege Kirundi has shared his vision for the new direction that the agency will adopt to make the tea business for smallholder tea farmers under its management sustainable.

While addressing more than 160 directors from the west of Rift Valley over the weekend in Nakuru, the chairman said that his board has shifted focus and the new business mantra is ‘Farmers First’.

Kirundi noted that the business fundamentals outlined when KTDA was established in 1964 as a parastatal and privatised in 2000 have changed, and the business must respond to the new business environment.

To achieve this, he said that the board is developing new policies and updating the old ones to make sure the farmers benefit from their tea investment. Most importantly, he said the business must embrace sustainability in all business pillars.

The chairman underpinned the importance of leadership and continuous engagement with the stakeholders to ensure that business issues affecting the sectors are addressed.

He noted that some of the issues affecting the sector emanate from the implementation of policies and regulations that negatively impacted small-holder tea factories.

Some of these could not have been enacted if leadership played its role and if there was adequate engagement from all stakeholders, including the government.

Case in point he noted was the reserve price, which was selectively applied to KTDA-managed factories and not across the tea sector.

This has had a negative impact and led to the accumulation of large volumes of unsold teas for factories in the west of the rift. He said his board working with the factory leadership, have established mechanism of addressing this challenge.

Of concern from the directors was the issue of green leaf tea hawking, which is prevalent in the west and affects tea quality standards.

The directors resolved to task the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) to ensure that all private tea factories abide by the law, and if they do not meet the legal standards, their operational licenses should be reviewed.

The chairman implored the directors to ensure that they manage issues like delivery of quality teas, which is within their control.

The directors applauded the chairman for the opportunity and engagement of the proposals affecting the tea business in the region.

Mr Kirundi commitment to open and regular engagement with the farmers and their leadership.