In what amounts to economic apartheid in Kenya’s tea sector, the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has orchestrated a scandalous payment system that sees farmers in western Kenya receive as little as Sh10 per kilogram in bonuses while their counterparts in the Mount Kenya region pocket up to Sh57 for the same product—all while hiding behind flimsy currency fluctuation excuses.
The shocking disparity has exposed KTDA as an institution that perpetuates regional inequality, with 680,000 small-scale farmers now questioning whether the agency serves all Kenyans equally or operates as a cartel designed to enrich certain regions at the expense of others.
Documents obtained by this writer reveal a systematic pattern of discrimination that has persisted for years, with western Kenya farmers—predominantly from Nyamira, Kisii, Kericho, Bomet, Nandi, and Vihiga counties—consistently receiving pittances compared to their East of Rift counterparts in Nyeri, Murang’a, Meru, Kirinyaga, Embu, and Kiambu.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
This year’s bonus payments lay bare the extent of KTDA’s duplicity.
While Embu’s Rukuriri Tea Factory will pay farmers Sh57.50 per kilogram, and Mununga Factory offers Sh57, farmers supplying Kiamokama/Rianyamwamu in western Kenya will receive a insulting Sh10 per kilogram—a staggering 475 percent difference for what is essentially the same crop sold at the same auction.
Nyamache/Itumbe farmers will get Sh11, while multiple western factories including Ogembo/Eberege, Sanganyi, Nyansiongo, Mogogosiek, Kobel, and Boito will each pay a measly Sh12 per kilogram.
Even the highest-paying western factory, Momul, offers only Sh32—still Sh25.50 less than Rukuriri’s payout.
The cruelty is compounded by the fact that western farmers have seen their already meager earnings slashed further.
Kiru Tea Factory, for instance, dropped payments from Sh51.10 to Sh32—a brutal Sh19.10 cut that has left farmers wondering how they will survive.
Currency Lies and Hollow Excuses
Faced with mounting anger, KTDA resorted to what can only be described as insulting propaganda.
In a statement released Tuesday morning, the agency blamed the strengthening Kenyan shilling, claiming the currency moved from an average of Sh144 to Sh129 against the US dollar, thereby reducing earnings when converted back to local currency.
But here’s the problem with KTDA’s currency excuse: if the shilling’s strength affected all farmers equally, why are East of Rift farmers still earning five times more than their western counterparts? The currency traded at the same rate across Kenya last time anyone checked.
KTDA Holdings national chairman Chege Kirundi had the audacity to tell farmers this is “a very bad year” while simultaneously explaining that “increased volumes were sold.”
How does an agency sell more tea, maintain stable international prices, yet claim farmers must suffer? The mathematics of exploitation rarely add up.
The agency’s attempt to justify the regional gap by claiming that “tea from high-altitude zones naturally fetches better prices due to higher quality” is not just misleading—it’s an outright fabrication designed to mask systemic corruption.
The Quality Lie Debunked
Philip Ng’eno, a large-scale tea grower in Bomet East and university lecturer, demolished KTDA’s quality argument with surgical precision.
“The issue of poor quality does not arise, because farmers adhere to the ‘two leaves and a bud’ standard set by the Tea Board of Kenya,” he stated, exposing the agency’s claims as hollow propaganda.
The truth that KTDA refuses to acknowledge is simple: all Kenyan tea, regardless of origin, is sold at the same Mombasa Tea Auction under the same conditions.
The notion that western tea is inherently inferior is a convenient lie that allows the agency to perpetuate a system that enriches some regions while impoverishing others.
Borabu MP Patrick Osero, who sits on the National Assembly Agriculture Committee, didn’t mince words.
“The difference in earnings cannot be justified as Kenyan tea is sold in the same auction,” he declared, calling for a separate auction in Kericho to break KTDA’s stranglehold on western farmers.
A Pattern of Regional Discrimination
This isn’t a one-year aberration.
The evidence shows KTDA has maintained this discriminatory payment structure for years, consistently favoring Mount Kenya region farmers while treating western farmers as second-class suppliers. The question that demands answering is: why?
Cheruiyot Baliach, a KTDA zonal director representing Kaptebenget zone in Bomet County, voiced what many farmers believe.
“The huge differences in payments between factories in the West and East of Rift, which have persisted over the years, must be addressed to end longstanding claims and suspicions of manipulation at the Mombasa Tea Auction.”
Manipulation. That’s the word KTDA fears most, but it’s the one that best describes what appears to be happening.
How else does one explain a system where identical products from different regions receive wildly different payments after passing through the same auction?
Kericho Governor Dr. Erick Mutai cut through the pretense with devastating clarity. “Globally, tea from the West of Rift is known for its quality and popularity, but this is not reflected in prices and farmer earnings. That farmers here are the least paid is unacceptable.”
Government Complicity Through Inaction
Perhaps more disturbing than KTDA’s actions is the government’s apparent complicity through inaction. Despite President William Ruto meeting with KTDA directors and lauding the sector’s growth from Sh138 billion in 2022 to Sh215 billion last year, nothing has been done to address the systemic inequality that sees western farmers subsidize their eastern counterparts.
Baliach noted bitterly that neither the government’s tax waiver on packaging materials nor the Sh2.6 billion fertilizer subsidy has been felt in the industry.
The interventions appear designed for headlines rather than actual farmer relief.
While Ruto boasts about pushing sector earnings to Sh280 billion by 2027, western farmers are asking a more fundamental question: whose earnings are being pushed?
If current trends continue, that Sh280 billion will simply mean more money for Mount Kenya farmers while western growers remain trapped in poverty.
The Reckoning
West of Rift farmer Maxwel Mokama’s plea for “urgent government intervention” shouldn’t be necessary in a country that claims to treat all citizens equally.
The fact that farmers must beg for fair treatment exposes both KTDA and the government as willing participants in regional economic marginalization.
KTDA’s promise to expand orthodox tea production, invest in factory modernization, and open new markets rings hollow when the fundamental issue—fair payment distribution—remains unaddressed. You cannot build trust by offering future promises while maintaining present injustices.
The agency’s statement that “the challenges we face are global and systemic” is corporate speak for “we have no intention of changing the status quo.” If the challenges were truly systemic, they would affect all farmers equally. They don’t.
What KTDA has created is not a development agency but a sophisticated apparatus for wealth transfer from one region to another, all while hiding behind technical jargon about exchange rates, altitude, and quality.
The 680,000 small-scale farmers awaiting their pittances deserve better than excuses. They deserve the truth, and they deserve justice.
The question now is whether anyone in power has the courage to dismantle this system of regional tea apartheid, or whether western Kenya farmers will continue subsidizing their more fortunate countrymen while KTDA peddles lies about currency fluctuations and tea quality.
The numbers have spoken. The disparities are undeniable.
KTDA’s excuses have been exposed. What happens next will determine whether Kenya’s tea sector is truly a national asset or simply another instrument of regional inequality dressed in the language of development.
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