Nairobi, July 7 - Kenya will change the rules governing tea farming to streamline administration and boost production and earnings, its agriculture minister said.
Despite the east African nation occupying the global No.1 spot for black tea exports, farmers routinely complain that bureaucracy in the industry curbs their earnings and some have cut down their tea bushes in frustration.
"We are going to reform the entire tea sector," Agriculture Minister William Ruto said late on Monday at an event to welcome Iranian tea buyers into the country.
He said the reforms are geared towards motivating farmers.
The government is keen to amend the law to cut the number of directors in the numerous tea factories around the country and to set minimum qualifications for becoming a director.
Kenyan tea farmers say there are too many directors at individual tea factories and the costs of running the plants eat into earnings from their crops.
Ruto said the government was providing regulator Tea Board of Kenya with 200 million shillings ($2.63 million) this year to raise earnings through boosting tea processing and the exploration of new markets.
The new markets include countries such as Iran. Ranked 18th in Kenyan tea export markets, the Islamic republic has increased tea imports from Kenya to 2 million kg per year from 750,000 kg five years ago.
The value of the tea sold in Iran jumped to 355 million shillings per year from 100 million shillings in the same period, Ruto said.
Iran buys the tea from the weekly auction in Kenya's port city of Mombasa but the two countries are in the process of establishing a direct marketing channel that Kenyan officials hope will boost earnings.
Tea earned east Africa's biggest economy 62 billion shillings last year. The Tea Board of Kenya expects the crop to rake in about 65 billion shillings this year as lower supplies due to drought push up prices.