The Kenya Tea Board has issued a stark warning about the escalating threat climate change poses to the nation’s tea sector, a cornerstone of the agricultural economy that supports over six million people. In a comprehensive report, the board detailed how shifting weather patterns, including prolonged droughts, unseasonal frosts, and erratic rainfall, are severely impacting tea yields and quality in traditional growing regions like Kericho and Nandi Hills. The report underscores that the very climatic conditions that made the Kenyan highlands ideal for tea cultivation are now changing rapidly, threatening the future viability of a crop that is one of the country’s top foreign exchange earners and a critical source of rural employment.
The impacts are being felt directly on the farms and in the factories. Extended dry spells are stressing tea bushes, leading to wilting and lower leaf production, while sudden, intense downpours are causing soil erosion and leaching essential nutrients from the soil. Perhaps more insidiously, rising temperatures and altered rainfall patterns are creating favorable conditions for new pests and diseases previously unseen in these regions. The subtle flush of the tea leaf—the new growth that determines quality—is becoming increasingly unpredictable, affecting the distinctive flavor profile that makes Kenyan tea a premium product on the global market. This volatility is creating financial instability for thousands of smallholder farmers who rely on consistent monthly payments from their tea deliveries to cooperative societies.
In response, the Tea Board is championing a sector-wide climate resilience strategy. This includes promoting the development and distribution of drought-tolerant and pest-resistant tea clones, encouraging farmers to adopt shade-growing with agroforestry trees to moderate bush temperature, and implementing advanced irrigation systems to buffer against dry spells. The long-term future of the industry depends on such adaptive measures, coupled with global efforts to reduce emissions. The warning from the Tea Board is a clarion call; without significant intervention, the taste, quality, and economic stability provided by Kenya’s famous green gold are at serious risk, potentially forcing a painful restructuring of a foundational national industry.