Kenya mulls orthodox tea manufacturing to meet growing demand

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NAIROBI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) Holdings plans to diversify into orthodox tea manufacturing as part of expanding its footprint in the international market, a government official said on Thursday.

Peter Munya, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, said that in order to boost production of orthodox teas, whose returns are much higher than that of conventional variety, KTDA intends to install orthodox processing lines in 10 factories where the cash crop is grown.

"Towards this end, KTDA has requested for a loan or grant from the government through my ministry to finance the orthodox tea diversification initiative," said Munya.

He spoke in Nairobi during a forum on implementation of reforms in the tea sub-sector that supports over six million Kenyans directly and indirectly and generates over 132 billion shillings (about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars) annually in export earnings.

Munya said introduction of the specialized teas -- orthodox, purple, white and green teas in the local market is part of diversification in the industry to cushion farmers against challenges of over reliance with black variety.

He said that by venturing into orthodox tea, farmers will benefit more as the variety fetches high prices in the global market than the black tea.

David Ichoho, chairman of KTDA stressed that increased production and sale of orthodox tea will boost the financial performance of the tea factories and returns to small-scale growers.

So far the Tea Board of Kenya has licensed 17 manufacturers of specialized orthodox teas and ten tea factories under the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), Ichoho said.

He said the purple tea market globally is lucrative and the variety is in high demand in China, USA and Canada.

Some of the specialty orthodox teas being processed locally include purple orthodox, black orthodox tea, green orthodox, yellow orthodox, oolong orthodox, white orthodox, tips normal, hairy and golden.

The International Trade Corporation (ITC) is assisting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) growing and marketing specialized teas to set up their own tea auction at the port of Mombasa.

Peris Mudida, managing director of Tea Board of Kenya said that small scale farmers and local investors are shifting to production of specialized tea to benefit from premium prices in global niche markets as current earnings of black tea slump. Enditem

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