Kenya: Govt Plans to Reverse Privatisation of Tea Authority
July 21, 2008
19 July 2008
Posted to the web 21 July 2008
Cedric Lumiti
Nairobi
The Kenyan government plans to reclaim ownership of the cash-strapped Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) a few years after its privatisation.
The move is aimed at boosting production and halting the mass exodus of farmers from the crop that has seen the tea sector face its worst times in years.
Agriculture Minister William Ruto has said plans for the takeover are in advanced stages adding that the Government would not watch as the multi-billion shilling sector stares at collapse.
Ruto said that the move to change the Authority back to a parastatal body was to enhance product marketing and enable government to protect tea farmers from exploitation.
The minister, while on a tour of former tea plantation farms that have now been changed to maize plantations, said it was disheartening that the Government’s privatisation programme was becoming counter-productive as businessmen and brokers exploit the public.
Tea has in the past been among the major foreign exchange earners of Kenya and the sector’s collapse could have serious repercussions for an economy struggling to recover from post-election violence.
He said that as part of the plan to restructure the Authority, the number of directors will be reduced. He also called on farmers to change their managerial election methods so they elected two or three directors instead of nine per factory, and to elect those who were in touch with modern farming technology.
Ruto also called for regulation of the KTDA rules by omitting some clauses, which gave the directors more powers where finances were being used without the farmers’ knowledge, saying this would give farmers more say.
The minister said that the five agricultural sectors were planning to create an Agricultural Development Fund to cater for farmers needs naming research, irrigation and modern methods of farming like artificial insemination.
The Government had decided to work on value addition of products especially on tea and coffee to improve on their marketing abroad to ensure farmers get enough profits.
The minister said that plans for the Agricultural Finance Co-operation (AFC) had been prepared to increase loans, which will be disbursed through co-operatives and Saccos.
He took issues with the agricultural extension officers who he says must be results oriented and the Government would ensure that they checked their performance in terms of how many farmers they had helped within their jurisdictions.
The minister cautioned farmers not to uproot their plants and urged them to be patient as the government was addressing the problems facing the sectors.