President William Ruto’s claim that small-scale tea growers were earning an average of Sh56 per kilogramme of green leaf supplied to factories has sparked a storm in the sector, with farmers saying he was completely off the mark.

📋 Breaking It Down

This comes as the High Court in Nairobi gave small-scale tea growers in Nyamira and Kisii counties the go-ahead to initiate judicial review proceedings over the 2025/2026 second tea payment, popularly known as the bonus, citing alleged discrimination, irregular financial calculations and violations of the Tea Act, 2021.

At the same time, tea growers in Nandi, Kericho, Bomet and Nakuru counties protested low bonus payments ranging from Sh12.50 to Sh22 per kilogramme, compared with Sh50 paid by factories in the larger Mt Kenya region.

President Ruto announced on Thursday, during a town hall meeting at the ongoing Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Summit in Nairobi, that reforms in the tea sector had raised farmers’ earnings to an average of Sh56 per kilogramme of green leaf across the country.

📌 What You Need to Know

“Three years ago, the prices were Sh34 per kilogramme, but the average prices now is Sh56,” Dr Ruto said, with the figures confirmed by Tea Board of Kenya Chief Executive Officer Willy Mutai.

But Mr Joseph Rono, an agricultural expert and spokesperson for the Tea Small Scale Farmers Association, said the President should be properly briefed on the real situation in the tea industry to avoid embarrassing himself before farmers.

President William Ruto during the Agriculture and Food Security Transformation Summit at the Jamhuri ASK Showground in Nairobi on Thursday, October 8, 2026.

“The President might have meant well, depending on the brief that he has. But to tell farmers they are paid Sh56 on average when the actual payment is Sh26 per kilogramme and an average of Sh17 on second payment (bonus), bringing the total average to between Sh41 and Sh43 per kilogramme, is completely off the mark,” Mr Rono said.

Mr Rono asked: “Where did the President get the additional Sh13 per kilogramme? And if indeed that is the situation, where is the difference? That amount does not hit our bank accounts and is not in the payment slips. Who pockets it?”

Mr Alexander Rono, who supplies his produce to Tirgaga Tea Factory in Bomet County, confirmed that in April, the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) increased the price of green leaf per kilogramme to Sh26 from Sh23, which had prevailed for two years.

📰 Source: Nation Africa