Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi says the government is upscaling steps to improve earnings of tea farmers through value addition.

Linturi says the government is currently pushing for necessary measures to make sure tea from Kenya goes abroad with added value to boost earnings for tea farmers and exporters.

He was speaking in Karachi, Pakistan during the Pakistan Tea Association annual gala event, where he rooted for increased trade volumes for tea from Kenyan through value addition.

He pledged to eradicate the hurdles faced by Kenyan tea in the global market by embracing value addition even as he praised Pakistan for being Kenya’s leading tea export market.

“To circumvent these challenges, the Special Economic Zones may be a better scheme than the EPZ owing to numerous administrative, monetary and tax incentives,” said Linturi.

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The CS undertook to create Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in Dongo Kundu in Mombasa to replace the Export Promotion Zones (EPZ) to enhance value addition to Kenya’s tea exports.

“Kenya is rated among the highest quality producers of tea with 77 market destinations worldwide, but our export earnings are not higher than other countries like Sri Lanka and China who export their tea with added value,” he noted.

He noted that the creation of SEZs is a key flagship project under the Kenya Vision 2030 economic development blueprint launched by the late President Mwai Kibaki in 2008.

“Pakistan imports 54 per cent of Kenyan tea, making it our largest trade partner in the tea sector but we are still facing challenges in the trade due to lack of value addition to our tea,” he stated.

Tea is Kenya's leading export and earned her Sh152.4 billion in 2022 with tea exports led by Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) contributed about 33 per cent ($34.98 billion) to Kenya's 2021 GDP.

The latest data shows that Kenya exported tea valued at Sh54 billion to Pakistan in 2021 and Linturi noted that China and Sri Lanka beat Kenya due to value addition on their tea exports.

“The main reason for lower earnings from tea exports by Kenya compared to Sri Lanka and China is selling in bulk as opposed to value added form. While Kenya tea exports in value added form is about one percent, that of Sri Lanka’s bulk is at about 52 per cent,” he said.

Kamran Tessori, the Governor of Sindh region in Pakistan, lauded Kenya for the quality of her tea export and called for further strengthening of trade ties between the two countries.

“Tea is an essential commodity in Pakistan and we largely prefer the Kenyan tea due to its quality. We should however improve our trade relations for the benefit of both importers and exporters,” said the Governor.

Linturi pledged fertilizer subsidies and other incentives to farmers in the tea sub-sector to pad them from rising production costs to make Kenyan tea more competitiveness globally.

He was flanked by Kenyan Ambassador to Pakistan Nyambura Kamau, KTDA Chairman David Ichoho and KTDA Chief Executive Officer Wilson Muthaura among others in the sub-sector.