By Dan Bolton
In early December, Kenya's National Assembly passed the Tea Act of 2020, advancing sweeping reforms in the tea sector. The decision reestablishes the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) and the Tea Research Foundation (TRF), two institutions dissolved in 2014 in favor of an Agriculture Fisheries and Foods Authority that managed eight sectors including coffee, tea, coconut, cotton, sisal, sugar, and pyrethrum.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, at the direction of President Uhuru Kenyatta, has for months pressed for a slate of reforms returning sector control in both tea and coffee.
The Tea Act, which was approved on Dec. 1, and the Coffee Act both institute direct settlement schemes (DSS) that require payment to farmers directly after the sale of their tea and coffee. Tea brokers, buyers, and the tea auction in Mombasa must remit sales within 14 days, and tea factories are required to pay 50% of sales direct to farmers. Tea farmers also earn an end-of-harvest-year bonus.