Fredrick Gori
21 June 2011
opinion
Nairobi — The tea industry is a big deal for Kenya. In 2010, it continued as the country's top foreign exchange earner, bringing in nearly Sh100 billion.
Conservative estimates show that the industry employs more than four million people across the value chain, and contributes nearly four per cent to the GDP.
In the last two years, small-scale tea farmers were among the best paid in the world, thanks to high product quality, good auction prices and favourable currency exchange rates.
The tea industry's contribution to the economy could rise further considering there is plenty of room for improvement.
Small-scale farmers, numbering more than half a million and concentrated mainly in the highlands account for 62 per cent of the production. Their individual holdings are small, averaging just under 0.5 acres.
But despite this, small-scale tea farmers continue to produce top quality teas that remain popular with consumers around the world.
But they can double their output by adhering to good practices such as regular plucking rounds, pruning whenever necessary and fertiliser application.
However, with continued sub-division of land under tea, deliberate steps must be taken to stop tea farming becoming economically unviable.
Given the entrenched tradition of sub-dividing land to successive generations, there is real concern that farmers may opt out of tea farming when it stops making business sense to them.
This situation can be averted, first by helping farmers to treat tea farming as a business with profit and loss accounts.
This would require them to consolidate their holdings and form limited companies to manage the business with individuals becoming shareholders.
Secondly, the government needs to come up with specific policies to guide sub-division of land in the entire agricultural sector.
Tea farmers with economically unviable units are likely to be the hardest hit by climate change because they lack the resources to adapt.
Already, we are seeing erratic rainfall patterns in virtually all tea-growing areas leading to lower green leaf production.
The possibility that farmers may be required to resort to irrigation could drive thousands out of business simply because this is an expensive venture.
Some experts also warn that the flavour, for which our teas are well-known, may be compromised by climate change, although there is no conclusive evidence of that.
The net effect of climate change for small-holders in most instances will be increased poverty and disease prevalence, as well as reduced revenues.
To save the tea industry from this threat and secure the future of tea farmers, we must invest in both mitigation and adaptation measures.
A key mitigation measure is to increase the greenhouse gas sinks by saving forests from destruction and planting trees to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Farmers can also be helped to switch to cleaner sources of energy such as solar and wind to reduce forest destruction.
Most adaptation measures are designed only to prevent further warming, not reverse existing warming, hence adaptation, which involves acting to tolerate the effects of global warming.
Clearly, Kenyans have a lot to do to prepare adequately for the inevitable.
Mr Gori is a public relations specialist based in Nairobi.
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