The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has announced that smallholder farmers under its management will receive fertilizer suspense refunds by January 5, 2025.
In a statement released on Thursday, November 28, KTDA confirmed that the refunds will be issued alongside the green leaf payments.
“Smallholder tea farmers affiliated with KTDA will receive the fertilizer suspense refunds together with the Green Leaf (GL) payment by the 5th of January 2025,” the statement read.
KTDA revealed that it had procured 96,988 metric tonnes of fertilizer for the year, with the final batch of 8,000 metric tonnes set to be distributed by the first week of December 2024. The agency added that reconciliations would determine the refund amount payable to each farmer.
This year, a 50kg bag of NPK chemically compounded fertilizer was priced at Ksh3,400, procured through competitive bidding. However, a government subsidy of Ksh2 billion announced in November reduced the cost to Ksh2,500 per bag.
“On behalf of tea farmers affiliated with KTDA, we thank the Government of Kenya for the subsidy that reduced fertilizer costs and enabled better payments to farmers,” KTDA noted.
Earlier this year, in April, the government intervened to suspend and seize counterfeit fertilizers distributed under the subsidy program. Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi confirmed that several fertilizers, including Kelphos Plus, Kelphos Gold, and NPK 10:26:10, distributed by KEL Chemicals, failed to meet the required test parameters according to Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) reports.
KTDA assured farmers that its distribution processes adhered to the highest standards to ensure quality inputs and better returns for tea farming.
