|
New plant boost for Kenya's tea farmers
One of the thriving tea plantations in Kenya |
THE FUTURE could not be better for the tea growers of Kenya's Bomet District with the recent commissioning by President Kibaki of a tea factory in the area. The plant will be one of the most modern in the local industry. The President pushed the buttons to set into operation the Tirgaga factory, which is expected to increase the commodity's quantity and quality.
Long distances of poor roads, and the inability of the local factories to take in all the harvested green leaves, had previously hampered the growers' efforts. The difficulty of getting the tea to the mills had led to increased sales of green leaves to middlemen, who were blamed for, among other things, cashing in on the situation to offer poor prices.
Among steps taken by the Tirgaga management to boost the growers' morale and maintain supply is streamlining the payment system and the transportation of leaves from the farms. The production manager, Lucy Mwenda, says the company operates two automated lines of production, a major shift from the one-line labour-intensive method employed by most plants.
|
