The government through Tea Board of Kenya (TBK)is fully committed to ensuring women in the tea sector occupy key decision-making positions by accelerating progress in achieving gender empowerment.
Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Willy Mutai has affirmed that efforts are being made in finalizing the corporate governance regulations to entrench the provisions of gender equality in leadership in the tea value chains.
Speaking over the weekend at Ernestea factory to mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrations CEO Mutai said the tea industry supports over 834, 129 farmers’ majority of whom are women who feature largely in tea processing, packaging, trade and consumption and there was need to celebrate the invaluable contributions of women in the Kenya’s tea industry as their hard work fuels the economy and puts the country’s tea on the global map.
“The government of Kenya is committed to ensuring that women thrive in the tea sector. To accelerate progress in achieving gender empowerment in the Kenya tea sector, the government is finalizing the corporate governance regulations to entrench the provisions of gender equality in leadership.” said CEO Mutai.
He said TBK was committed to promoting women’s leadership in the tea value chain while noting this in the provisions in the Tea Act 2020.
CEO Mutai revealed that tea production performance in 2024 was higher recording 598 million kilograms from 517 million kilograms the previous year adding that there was every reason to celebrate women who are found mainly concentrated in the harvesting sector of the tea value chain.
He commended Ernestea factory for their journey of investing in the tea sector and making it a reality to produce high quality organic tea and also proving to the world that there are opportunities for women in the tea industry.
“These women came together and made an investment. We want to thank them because this is one of factory that is producing high quality organic tea. It is a unique factory that is leading the world in organic tea. This is another way of showing women in this country that there is an opportunity for women in the tea industry. We have been having women growing tea without owning properties or factories like this one. This also is a lesson for us to really nurture the unity in families to make sure the little resource we have in place is put to good use to produce a unique product.” said CEO Mutai.
While making her speech to mark the international women event, Ernestea Factory spokesperson Ms Rosemary Langat-Rop said the factory is a dream and vision that they got from their parents the late Ambassador Ernest Langat and his wife Ludiah Langat. They are focused on Orthodox and specialty teas that include black, purple and yellow teas.
The factory is part of the family heritage of tea cultivation which began in 1961 on 12 acres but expanded to 80 acres’ processes 3,500 to 5,000 kg of green leaf daily. Their purple tea was ranked first in Kenya in 2024 through blind testing, revealed Ms Rop.
“This is a story of hard work, discipline, determination and believing in ourselves as a family. We are grateful for what we have achieved so far. Ernestea has seen a milestone in 2024 when our purple tea was ranked number one in Kenya through blind testing and our tea was also ranked number one in the industry.
We thank TBK for their guidance in terms of clones, processes, categories and markets. We also want to thank Tea Research Institute and our colleagues in the tea sector. As a cottage factory we are focused on quality. What we are doing is to respond to various markets as some markets require the tea which is fully rolled others want it to be more cut. As we deal with our customers in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India we are always making sure we delight the customer.” said Ms Rop.
She advised female entrepreneurs creating a new business in the tea sector that they ought to exercise good governance, transparency, fairness to achieve success in their tea business.
“The mission of Ernestea is to share high quality tea with our friends all over the world. The journey is not yet over, we still have to expand our capacity and we still have a focus of getting more on the shelf. We are now in 16 outlets in Nairobi outside of the bulk tea we sell to our traders”, added Ms Rop.
Ernestea factory which is located in Kaptebeswet area within Belgut sub-county in Kericho Country has grown into a multimillion shilling high value export business over the years.
According to the elections for management of factories under Kenya Tea Development Agency KTDA held in late June last year after a directive by the TBK, women appeared to have got the short end of the stick despite being major players in the small holder subsector. Details from TBK revealed that out of the 324 directors only 19 women were elected in the 12 tea factories.
Women play an important role and are the backbone of the tea sector, but they are relegated to the lowest value of the chain and there is very little representation at the top levels.
Among those present at the celebrations included government officials from Belgut sub-county office, MCA Chemosot ward in Bureti sub-country Hon. Anita Byegon, representatives from Kipchimatt Group of Companies, Gender coordinator at Fairtrade Africa Dr. Susan Limisi, Institute director Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and Tea Research Institute’s (TRI) Ms Lilian Kerio, representatives from Brown Plantations Kenya and Browns East Africa Plantations, officials from KTDA, Rainforest Alliance, Trust Africa and Ethical Tea Partnership among other invited guests.
By Sarah Njagi
