NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya’s tea sector is set for major reforms after the Tea Board of Kenya unveiled new draft regulations aimed at improving transparency, quality, and farmer earnings.
The Board on Monday presented the Draft Tea Regulations and Green Leaf Quality Requirements during a stakeholder validation forum at the Tea House in Nairobi, bringing together farmers, processors, and traders to review the proposals before gazettement.
The reforms target long-standing concerns among smallholder farmers, including delayed payments, opaque pricing systems, and inconsistent green leaf quality across different regions.
Tea Board of Kenya Chief Executive Officer Willy Mutai said the new framework introduces strict payment timelines to ensure growers receive their dues promptly.
“The regulations will spell out payment timelines. The Act stipulates that 50 percent should be paid to farmers upfront, and the balance within three months,” Mutai said. “This will address cash flow challenges while ensuring that farmers receive their dues on time.”
Mutai noted that the rules also prioritize value addition, setting an ambitious target to ensure at least 40 percent of Kenya’s tea is processed and packaged locally rather than exported in bulk.
“We are 95 percent exporters of packed teas, and we’re engineering to make sure that 40 percent of what we produce is value-added within the country,” he added.
The Board is also pushing for consistent leaf quality, especially among growers in western Kenya, to enhance the competitiveness of Kenyan tea in global markets.
Mutai urged farmers to remain committed to improving production standards rather than abandoning the crop amid fluctuating prices and political interference.
“We are urging farmers not to uproot tea. Let them focus on quality and manage production costs,” he said. “Tea is not a political issue—we must separate business from politics and work together to strengthen the sector.”
Kenya remains the world’s largest exporter of black tea, earning the country billions in foreign exchange annually.
However, farmers have long decried low returns due to market volatility, poor regulation, and limited local value addition.
The draft regulations, once finalized, are expected to align the industry with the Tea Act 2020, ushering in a more transparent and farmer-centered governance structure.
