Tea uptake in Kenya has risen to 93 per cent, its highest level in years, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has said, rejecting claims that the tea levy has contributed to a glut in the market.
Kagwe said the improved uptake demonstrates strong demand for Kenyan tea and defended the 0.08 per cent levy as necessary to finance research, international marketing, innovation and value addition in the sector.
He spoke during the handover of a Sh360 million Japanese-funded Sencha green tea processing factory at Kangaita Tea Factory in Kirinyaga County.
“Tea uptake has increased to 93 per cent compared to the levels witnessed three years ago. It is therefore not true that the Tea Levy has caused a glut,” Kagwe said.
The Cabinet Secretary said the levy is charged to tea buyers rather than farmers, arguing that the industry requires sustainable financing to expand Kenya’s footprint in existing and emerging export markets.
“Where will the money to promote Kenyan tea in international markets come from if we refuse to support the tea levy? Let us be honest, it is not the farmer paying this levy. It is the buyer,” he said.
Kagwe said proceeds from the levy would be channelled towards research into improved tea varieties, climate resilience, market development and value addition, with the government seeking to increase returns to growers.
Kenya is one of the world’s leading exporters of black tea, but the government is increasingly pushing the industry towards specialty products and value-added exports to reduce reliance on bulk tea sales.
Kagwe said ageing tea bushes were contributing to declining yields and quality in some tea-growing areas, making investment in research and the development of high-yielding, climate-resilient varieties increasingly important.
The government’s value-addition push received a boost with the formal handover of the Sencha green tea processing facility to Kangaita farmers.
The factory, funded by Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), had remained idle since 2019 following an ownership dispute.
“This factory now belongs to the farmers of Kangaita. That is the message I was given by President William Ruto himself,” Kagwe said.
“We could not allow such an important investment to remain dormant while farmers waited to benefit.”
The facility is billed as the first in Africa capable of producing authentic Japanese Sencha green tea, giving Kenya an opportunity to enter premium specialty tea markets where the product can fetch significantly higher prices than conventional bulk black tea.
The CS also linked value addition to employment creation, particularly for young people in tea-growing regions.
“The children of tea farmers must also benefit from this industry. Value addition creates industries, creates jobs and ensures the next generation sees agriculture as a profitable enterprise,” he said.
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