Tea managers in Meru have called on the County Government to put in place policies that will protect growing zones in the area from uneconomic land divisions that threaten to kill the sector. Speaking in Meru when they met Meru County Governor Peter Munya, the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) managers, directors and factory chairpersons cited decreasing land covered by tea, high energy and packaging material costs as major challenges in the sector.

According to Paul Ringera, KTDA Zone 7 Director, tea farmers in the area are sub- dividing their farms at an alarming rate as population increases threatening small holders’ productivity. "The decreasing sizes of tea farms in this zone will make farmers lose interest in the crop due to low quantities of leaf. Currently, some of our factories are operating three days a week due to lack of enough leaf.

The county government should come up with a law to protect tea farms because it is a main income earner," said Ringera. He noted that the farmers in the zone earned over Sh6 billion in the previous year hence the need to have measures that will steer growth in the sector. He also called on the Government to give long term land concessions to tea factories to enable them plant enough trees for wood fuel.

"We urge the county Government to help us acquire more land for tree planting. We currently have about 1900 acres of land on trees but it is not enough. We are also working on alternative energy projects at a cost of Sh266 million," he added. Meru Governor Munya said that the county government would partner with KTDA factories in the area for mini-hydro and water power production.

"There is need to address energy issues in tea processing so as to reduce cost of production. There is high potential for mini-hydro and wind power in Meru and we are ready to partner with tea farmers," Munya said. He further said that the county government would help in addressing challenges of marketing tea locally and abroad to facilitate value addition.