KTDA factories to invest Sh3.5bn in hydropower plant

A group of four Kenya Tea Development Agency factories will invest Sh3.5 billion in hydro-electric power generation.

Chubut and Kaptumo in Nandi County, Mudete in Vihiga and the Kapsara in Trans-Nzoia have formed a joint company through which they want to generate up to 10 megawatts and save Sh100 million they have paying Kenya Power every year.

Chebut KTDA factory vice-chairman John Tega, and director Paul LeLei said the Chemuka hydro-electric power plant would be located at the Chepsonoi falls in Nandi County.

Mr Tega said on completion, the power plant would help the factories to cut costs by up to 60 per cent, giving farmers room for earning more.

He said surplus power would be sold to Kenya Power, which is grappling with increased electricity demand. The government has hatched a plan to generate another 5,000 megawatts in the next 40 months.

Mr Tega said the project will be funded by farmers and development partners, without giving details. The bulk of Kenya’s power is hydro-generated. Others are thermal, geothermal and wind sources.
Part of the savings, the official said, would be used to grow more tea and plant trees to cut down further spending on wood fuel.

Mr Lelei said Chebut and Kaptumo tea factories in Nandi had acquired 60 acres of land for planting trees to be used in the factories and increase forest cover. Tree planting, he said, would be monitored to mitigate effects of climate change like frost that, in the past, destroyed vast acres under the crop.

Mr Lelei asked farmers to “plant environment- friendly trees to contain frost when it strikes.”

The two directors noted the increasing number of small-scale tea farmers in Nandi County who are now selling the green leaf to the KTDA factories after weeks of protests about payment.

When the bonus payments were recently released, small-scale farmers claimed exploitation by KTDA, saying the agency did not recognise the rising production costs.

They threatened suspending supplies to KTDA factories at Chebut and Kaptumo until the rates are improved. However, at the weekend, a section of the farmers said they were reviewing their stand after realising prices at the international markets had dropped.

The two officials said it was difficult for individual factories to determine prices of a commodity that is traded beyond the borders.

Apart from other advantages, they said KTDA assured farmers of regular payments and denied claims the agency was exploiting the more than 500,000 small scale farmers across the country.

A section of tea farmers has also faulted low rates they are paid to fund projects like power generation, saying such decisions were pushing them towards multinationals.

Zone 7 farmers serving Chebut, Mudete and Kapsara have been protesting deductions that leave them with Sh14 per kilo of green leaf, saying multinationals pay better.

Farmers in Nandi County would receive more than Sh1 billion from the tea bonuses which KTDA announced two weeks ago while they are paid Sh23 per kilo of green leaf.

Last year, thousands of small scale farmers in Nandi County quit the KTDA factories to the DL- Koisagat Tea Company that increased its prices of green leaf tea to Sh20 per kilo and also paid Sh20 a kilo for bonuses, a step that sparked protests from KTDA.