Some farmers from Murang’a county have appealed to MPs from all tea-growing areas to support a Bill to regulate the sector currently in Parliament.
They said it was time the leaders showed their support for farmers who have been suffering from low payments and mismanagement of the tea sector.
Peter Kihungi, a tea farmer from Kanyenya-ini in Kangema subcounty, said the Bill will save farmers from poverty. The Bill went through the Second Reading in Parliament on Tuesday.
“We are asking MPs who were not present when the Bill went through its Second Reading to ensure they are present during its Third Reading,” Kihungi said.
He said the Bill has presented a glimmer of hope to farmers who had given up when senators floored the tea regulations early last month.
Senators said parts of the Bill were not in the interest of county governments yet agriculture is a devolved function.
The regulations would amount to over-regulation of the sector and stifle growth, the senators argued.
Governors complained that they had been left out of the process that falls under their functions.
But Kihungi said once passed, the Bill will transform the Tea Board of Kenya that is currently a subsidiary of the Agriculture and Food Authority into an independent parastatal.
The Tea Board will then regulate the tea sector and receive funds from the national government.
This, he said, will ensure that farmers are paid their dues on time regardless of the fluctuations of the global market.
The Bill will also ensure that farmers are paid 50 per cent of their payments 14 days after the sale of their tea, making it impossible for Kenya Tea Development Agency to hold onto farmers’ money.
Farmers have lamented that the agency holds a huge chunk of their money until the end of the year when they are paid the annual bonuses, leaving them to survive on loans which they receive from the agency’s affiliate companies.
Kihungi also asked governors to keep off the process if they are not willing to support it, saying that they should not become an impediment to farmers’ interests.
He said despite formulating no law to better the lives of millions of thousands of tea farmers across the country, governors have opposed all efforts to streamline the sector.
“Last term, Murang’a MCAs drafted a tea bill that aimed at streamlining the sector and the county government came out saying that it was the mandate of the national government to formulate such laws,” Kihungi said.
He wondered why they are opposed to the laws fronted by Agriculture CS Peter Munya yet they have done nothing to solve the chaos in the sector.
The farmer told governors from tea zones in the Mt Kenya region to either support the fight for farmers’ emancipation or stay away.
“We know that they are paid by KTDA to frustrate any efforts to streamline the tea sector when they should be fighting for farmers’ interests.”
Muraya Gatu, another farmer, said the tea Bill will save them from the cycle of debts that they live in as they struggle to support their families.
Tea farming, he said, is demanding and requires the attention of the farmer all year long.
This makes it difficult for a farmer to engage in other money making venture yet the returns are meagre.
“The most important thing that MPs can do for tea farmers is to ensure the bill is passed into law so that we don’t have to beg for our rights,” he said.