Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 786381,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/786381/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 262,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "You will agree with me that small-scale farmers employ our young men and women who pick tea. There is also a rise in the amount of salaries. I am making this case because a farmer does not earn much. The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) manages 67 factories and they pay about Kshs15 to Kshs17 per a kilo of green tealeaves. Some multinationals pay between Kshs21 and Kshs27 for a kilo but they are fond of promising that “there will be a bonus.” We need to know how the bonus looks like. Let us look at what the bonus looks like. For example, if you come from Kiiru Factory, there is a sense of high quality tea. Farmers there are paid bonus of between Kshs32 to Kshs35 per kilogramme. Sen. Ndwiga will agree with me. However, for Kisii and Embu counties, the difference is very big. When the KTDA pays bonus, it is in the range of Kshs15 or Kshs20. Sometimes we are lucky to get Kshs35 or Kshs40 per kilogramme depending on which factory your tea was taken to and what kind of quality they maintained. Madam Temporary Speaker, when you add up the cost of production of green leaves and the daily payments per green leaf from the farmer, it is negative balance. The only thing that he looks forward to is the bonus that is paid in the month of September, October and November. As you have realized, when this bonus is around the corner, all elements who are anti-social flock around the farmers in order to deplete them of their earnings. They will, eventually, be left with nothing and go back to ground zero. This is a farmer who is contributing to the Gross Domestic Project (GDP) of this nation. This is a small-scale farmer who is creating employment opportunities for everybody. This is a small-scale farmer who is contributing towards the foreign currency reserve in this country. This is a farmer who is providing quality tea to the external market which they enjoy while saying, ”Kenyan tea is a good tea.” This is a farmer who gets peanuts. There is a case for us to argue beyond just picking the green leaves. We must look at value addition; the blending and the packaging of this tea. As Sen. Cheruiyot said, this is a crop that fetches up to Kshs300 or Kshs400 when it is properly blended. This farmer is getting a paltry maximum Kshs27. So, the discrepancy is what we want to look at as ad hoc Select Committee and see how best a farmer can earn at least something sensible and credible to sustain him. This crop is sustaining livelihoods of many young farmers. Madam Temporary Speaker, I strongly root for this ad hoc Committee. If I had time I would have gone further to explain the level of frustrations famers get at the end of the month; like queuing at some of our KTDA factories. The KTDA has created a host of another 10 companies. However, the farmers have no clue whether those companies are making profit or not. He is not aware whether that profit is ploughed back to the factory itself so that he earns an extra cent. I stand here stating Kisii and Nyamira counties are major tea growers. Therefore, I am advocating on their behalf just as I am advocating on behalf of the rest of the other tea growing counties; that we need to add value to the crop which is so important and is highly ranked in the list of our export industry. I thank you and take the pleasure to second this Motion. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}