Problems facing Tea production in Kenya

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Problems facing Tea production in Kenya

• Competition with unwanted weeds for plant nutrients leading to poor quality produce.
• Pests e.g. aphids which destroy the crop leaves leading to losses.
• Diseases e.g. root fungus disease which leads to poor quality output.
• Inadequate capital yet expensive machinery is used in tea processing.
• Scarcity of labour to do the plucking during the harvesting period.
• Competition with other countries producing cigarettes e.g. Marlboro and Rex from USA.
• Limited land for tea plantations due to ever increasing population.
• Soil exhaustion due to monoculture leading to low and poor quality yields.
• Unstable prices leading to price fluctuation on the world market which demoralizes the farmers.
• Natural hazards e.g. hailstorms which destroy large parts of plantations leading to low output.

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• Dangerous animals e.g. snakes, which attack the workers hence scaring them away.
• Inadequate storage facilities which leads to losses due to rotting and destruction by pests.
• Transport problems in some areas due to dilapidated roads which cause spoilage of harvested tea before it reaches the factory.

Originally published at https://geographypoint.com on November 30, 2020.