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{
    "id": 882440,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/882440/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 400,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "the feeds, the transporter and young men that they employ to take care of your cows. Whatever little that is left is given to you as a farmer. That is the unfortunate bit because every nine days, tea that is sold at the Mombasa Tea Auction is paid for. Unfortunately, the farmer receives only 30 to 40 per cent of the money after 30 days. They receive the rest only at the end of the year without proper explanation as to where the money was for over 300 days. That is someone’s money paid for the tea that they supply to different tea factories. However, as a farmer, you are not told whether that money is. Even if it was idle in a bank account, I believe that it earns interest for the investment that it is put into. It is unfortunate that somebody takes the money that belongs to the farmers, goes on and trade with it. After six months, they make their millions then return to the farmers. If you look at the people who are taken advantage of, they have no other request other than to ask the representatives of the people to set in place a strong regulator who will set regulations on how to manage the tea industry and propose on what they think about the particular industry. That, at the end of the nine days, it should either pay farmers or seek their consent on whether to keep their money for 21 more days. At the time, they return it to them, they would have made “x”, “y” and “z” amount of money. The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) as an institution will future prominently in our report. Madam Temporary Speaker, my grandmother who is a shareholder in the tea factory that is closer to our home has no idea that the company that she has been taking tea to for the last 30, 40, or 50 years has a very huge buildings that racks in billions in terms of rental income. For example, the different companies such as brokerage farms and fertilizer companies that brings in billions of shillings. However, if you read her monthly income statement from the tea factory, there is nothing that shows her the profit that come from the subsidiaries created out of her own sweat. It is a pity that we have allowed strong economic institutions to take advantage of our farmers without giving them recourse. That is one of the strongest proposals that we are giving in this particular Bill. We want to have a regulator who will even the field. Madam Temporary Speaker, multinationals feature prominently at the tea auction. If you go to the village where I come from, the multinationals that operate within our county pick 70 to 80 per cent of their tea via machines. Therefore, the quality of the tea leaves that they pick cannot be compared to the ones that have been picked via hands by the farmers. The one that is picked by farmers is of a way greater quality. When this tea is finally delivered at the auction, part of the people who lead in term of paying this particular crop from the farmers are the multinationals. They buy the tea to blend it with theirs which they know is of a lower quality. However, because they have so much economic muscle, they are able to sit and decide what the price will be. Unfortunately, East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA), the body that manages our auction in Mombasa has refused to go electronic despite the fact that all the rest of the global tea auction centres moved from the manual auction more than 15 years ago. I dare say that the kind of auction that happens in Mombasa is not an auction; it is a predetermined process where three to five people sit at a hotel in London and determine how much they are buying Kenyan tea today as we sit here. It is unfortunate. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}