Climate impacts hitting yields and already ‘scarce’ incomes, tea farmers warn
- Kenyan smallholder tea farmers in Kericho and Bomet warned on Monday that volatile weather, including January hailstorms and unseasonal heat, is collapsing crop yields and reducing their already "scarce" incomes.
- Production across Fintea's five cooperatives fell 30% during May and June, leaving farmers "really scared" as changing climate conditions cut short livelihoods and force growers to prioritize survival over farm resilience.
- Reporting extreme hardship, Paul Kipsigei Koech, 50, from Chepchabas earns around 3,000 to 4,000 Kes monthly while carrying 80,000 Kes in debt, forcing his family to subsist on one daily meal of mushed-up maize.
- Supermarket Lidl announced last week it would increase sourcing on Fairtrade terms to boost farmer incomes, aiming to reverse a decline in premium payments that fell from around 5% five years ago to under 1% today.
- Fairtrade Foundation partnerships director Kerrina Thorogood warned only one-in-five Kenyan tea farmers earn enough monthly for essentials, prompting parents like Koech to prioritize education so their children pursue careers outside the tea industry.
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It's said that a cup of tea solves everything - but there are now wars of supply shortages for our nation's much-beloved brew.
Evening Standard
Climate impacts hitting yields and already ‘scarce’ incomes, tea farmers warn
Increasingly unpredictable climate conditions, unfair trade practices and rising costs are squeezing the amount of money Kenyan farmers can make.
Growers are struggling with unpredictable weather and lower yields. This translates into decreased production and higher tea prices.
Why British tea prices are rising while tea farmers continue to struggle
Climate volatility is reducing tea yields and damaging crops in major producing regions.Only one in five Kenyan tea farmers surveyed by Fairtrade said they earned enough each month to cover essential family costs.Lidl has launched a new Kenyan tea designed to pay growers an additional living-income premium.Kenyan farmers supply around half of the black tea consumed in Britain, yet many are struggling to earn enough to cover basic household costs…
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