Four western Kenya tea factories have been put on timed performance targets after Agriculture Principal Secretary Kiprono Ronoh chaired a meeting in Nairobi on Tuesday over farmers’ complaints about earnings and factory costs.
The factories — Kapkoros, Chebut, Litein and Mogogosiek — face possible management changes if they miss the benchmarks, and managers could face prosecution if investigations find corruption or mismanagement of farmers’ resources, Ronoh said after the session.
Cost control and accountability orders
“The government remains committed to protecting tea farmers’ interests, improving factory performance and ensuring that farmers receive better returns for their produce,” Ronoh said in a statement reported by The Star. Each factory’s situation was reviewed individually. Agreed measures include cutting operating costs, lifting efficiency and tightening accountability, with specific directives and timelines issued.
“The factories have been given clear directives and timelines to implement the agreed measures. We expect them to improve their performance and demonstrate accountability in the management of farmers’ resources,” he said. The ministry also ordered the SETET project supporting Litein to be fast-tracked. The Tea Board of Kenya will work with farmers to review management where targets are missed.
KTDA national chairman Enos Njeru, Tea Board of Kenya chief executive Willy Mutai, factory directors and other stakeholders attended. The ministry did not publish the factory-by-factory targets or deadlines.
Bonus season keeps pressure high
The summons lands as growers queue at banks and saccos to draw 2025/2026 bonuses that range from about Sh12 to Sh50 per kilogramme of green leaf, The Standard reported. Western factories are widely expected to average around Sh15 per kilo — a level that has fuelled anger over fuel, salaries and administration costs that shrink the pool left for farmers.
In Meru and Tharaka Nithi, directors and growers blamed levies and trade disruptions for thin payouts, with Zone Seven directors calling for the scrap of a 0.8 per cent tea levy and citing higher Kenya Bureau of Standards charges. Embu’s Rukuriri factory, by contrast, paid Sh50 per kilo and drew praise from some growers who linked the result to leaf quality and factory leadership.
Factory efficiency is not a side issue for growers: every shilling spent on fuel, payroll and administration is a shilling that does not reach the buying centre. Ronoh’s message to the four West-of-Rift plants is operational, not rhetorical — improve the cost line that determines farmer pay, or face boardroom and legal consequences as the bonus season keeps the political heat on KTDA factories.
Sources: The Star | The Standard
Photo: Lebu Ayiga / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
