Muranga tea farmers are predicting high tea production due to rainy season which has been experienced in most parts of the country.
Julius Muraya, a farmer from Kiambuthia area in Mathioya informed KNA majority of farmers from the sub county were harvesting about 10 to 20 kilos of green leaf, a reduction from over 100 kilos they used to harvest during wet seasons.
Low production of tea led to decreased monthly earnings and forced them to source for loans from various financial institutions.
“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.” Muraya expounded.
The 10 KTDA-allied tea factories in Murang’a has the capability of processing more than 240, 000 kilos of green leaf on a daily basis, but due to the drought in January, the factory is currently receiving roughly 40, 000 kilos.
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Some of the tea factory chairpersons, including Chege Kirundi (Kiru), Michael Kamau Ngatia (Iria Ini), Samson Kaguma (Gatunguru), and Muthoni Waithanji (Gitugi), approved that all the factories were operating below competence due to reduced production of green
leaf.
They shared that green leaf plucking days have been reduced to four to allow the factories to operate at their optimal.
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“We have organised the farmers in such a way to ensure we remain operational and sell our tea,” said Kirundi.
Kaguma observed that the Gatunguru tea factory was functioning at 40 percent capacity and getting between 20,000 and 30,000 kilos of green leaf daily.
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