NAIROBI, Kenya – The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has dismissed as false payment figures circulating on social media purporting to show the final bonus rates for tea farmers in the 2024/2025 financial year.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, September 3, the agency clarified that no factory has declared its final payment, describing the numbers doing the rounds online as “misleading and premature.”
“Factories have not yet declared their final payment for the 2024/2025 financial year. The numbers circulating online are therefore false,” KTDA stated.
The agency said the official figures would be communicated later this month after all 71 tea factories under its management complete their performance reviews.
KTDA urged its more than 650,000 smallholder farmers to remain patient and rely only on official communication channels.
“We would like to inform our farmers and all stakeholders that the final numbers shall be communicated once the process has concluded,” the statement read, reaffirming KTDA’s “Farmer First” commitment to transparency.
The clarification comes amid heightened anticipation in tea-growing regions as farmers await the annual bonus payout, traditionally declared in September and disbursed in October.
The payout — often a lifeline for households and local economies in the tea belt — is calculated based on each factory’s total earnings from tea sales over the year, less operational costs and prior monthly payments of Sh23 per kilo.
In 2023, Kenya’s smallholder tea farmers sold a record 1.4 billion kilogrammes of green leaf, earning Sh67.7 billion — a 7.6 per cent increase from 2022.
The highest bonus rates were recorded in Imenti (Sh60.30 per kilo) and Momul (Sh50.30 per kilo).
While last year’s bumper payout raised expectations, KTDA has cautioned farmers to avoid speculation and await the official factory-by-factory declarations, which vary depending on production volumes and sales performance.
KTDA manages 71 factories across 21 counties, 54 of which operate independently while 17 are run as subsidiaries of “mother” factories.
