Muranga Tea Farmers Expect High Production with the Onset of Rains

After the beginning of the extended rainy season from March to June, tea producers in Muranga anticipate strong leaf yield.

Persistent drought in tea-growing regions has an impact on the low production of tea.

According to Mathioya Julius Muraya, a farmer from the Kiambuthia area, most farmers in the sub-county were only gathering 10 to 20 kilos of green leaf, as opposed to the over 100 kilos they had been harvesting during the rainy seasons.

Muraya noted that poor productivity resulted in lower monthly income, leading them to seek loans from different financial organizations.

“The production since January has been affected by drought. Harvesting about 20 kilos of green leaf is not near enough to make any meaningful earnings. This has forced some of us to accrue loans from banks and Saccos.” explained Muraya.

The 10 KTDA-affiliated tea manufacturers in Murang’a have a daily processing capacity of more than 240 000 kilos of green leaves, but due to the drought, the factory is only receiving about 40 000 kilos at the moment.

A few chairpersons of tea factories, including Chege Kirundi (Kiru), Michael Kamau Ngatia (Iria Ini), Samson Kaguma (Gatunguru), and Muthoni Waithanji (Gitugi), acknowledged that all of the factories were running at or below capacity as a result of the decline in green leaf production.

To help the companies run as efficiently as possible, they disclosed that the number of days for picking green leaves had been decreased to four.

“We have organised the farmers in such a way to ensure we remain operational and sell our teas,” said Kirundi.

On his part, Kaguma observed that the Gatunguru tea factory was operating at 40 percent capacity and getting between 20,000 and 30,000 kilos of green leaf daily.