CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Patrick L. Anundah, Kenya, June 1998
THEME = SOCIAL CONDITIONS
Some of the problems and deterrents
facing tea farmers in Kenya these days
Transport - The transport problem (i.e. the poor state of the roads and the poor condition of the vehicles) in the tea industry is a serious one and certainly does nothing to encourage the tea farmers. Vehicles used in the tea industry are not regularly serviced and are not suitable for the job. This means there are long delays in transporting the tea to buying centres. Within the buying centres long delays are experienced causing the tea to deteriorate. The tea farmers are also compelled by the clerks at the buying centres to wait for long hours in order to re-load the tea on the vehicles after sale. Obviously there is an opening here for the jobless who could be employed by the Kenya Tea Development Authority to load the vehicles, or at the very least, the tea farmers should be paid for the labour involved in loading the vehicles.
Duty and Valued Added Tax - Tea farmers need to be encouraged to produce better quality tea. If goods connected with agricultural production (fertilizers, farm machinery etc) are not zero-rated for tax purposes, at the very least they should not attract much in the way of Valued Added Tax. Farmers should also enjoy duty-free advantages on imported farm machinery such as combined harvesters. In other parts of the agricultural sector, farmers growing wheat enjoy these advantages, so why not the tea farmers?
Additional taxation - If this were not enough, an additional tax is sometimes levied. How come? Well, if the farmer receives a bonus payment because of the amount or quality of his crop, this is taxed as well. All in all, it means the tea farmers risk to be "doubly taxed" for their labour. Officially, this second level of taxation is supposed to provide for the maintenance of the access roads to the tea plantations and the buying centres. But who is actually responsible for collecting this second tax? There is a dual jurisdiction of the Local Authority and the Provincial Administration. All of which means that in the long run, it's the tea farmer who is going to lose out.
Weighing machines - Of particular import are the weighing machines at the buying centres. Many of these are faulty due to lack of regular servicing. These machines are supposed to be serviced at least once a year, but this frequently does not take place. The clerks at the buying centres sometimes adjust the weighing machines to defraud the farmers. There is a "syndicate" involving the clerks, factory managers and indeed, some tea farmers who are out to make "cheat the system" as best they can.
The bags - The bags used to weigh the tea in at the buying centres are not of standard requirement. In fact they are too heavy. This means that the bag's weight rises from 1.5 kg to 2 kg and this additional weight is deducted from the tea brought in by the farmer. It is believed that there are irregularities in the manufacturing and procurement procedures of these bags. In any case, some of them are so old and torn that the tea falls out. Obviously there is need to standardise the weight of the bags and also ensure that good quality bags are supplied to the buying centres.
Payment - Tea farmers are paid by cheque for any amounts exceeding Kshs. 500. This forces the majority of small-scale tea farmers to open temporary bank accounts so that they can cash their cheques. Obviously the banks take their cut on commissions to be paid for each cheque cashed. Frequently the buying centres are long distances from towns so the farmers have to be prepared to travel these distances to cash their cheques.
Enter the "middlemen"! These are gentlemen who are prepared to take advantage of the situation and cash the farmers' cheques at exorbitant rates.
It's clear that urgent attention is needed to overcome these problems if Kenya's tea industry is to be saved from crisis and stagnation.
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CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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