President William Ruto has directed the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) to introduce a digital payment system for tea farmers within the next three months.
The new system is expected to make it easier for farmers to track the money earned from their tea and improve transparency in the payment process.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Rono announced the directive on Saturday, August 22, during a meeting with tea farmers at Chelal Tea Factory in Kericho County.
Rono said the system should allow farmers to follow their payments from the tea auction, through buyers and factories, until the money reaches their accounts.
“The President has said that within the next three months, KTDA should put in place what is called a digital green-leaf payment system,” Rono said.
He said the platform would help reduce the number of stages through which tea payments currently pass before reaching farmers.
According to the PS, payments can move through several banks and channels involving the auction, buyers, KTDA and tea factories.
He argued that the process adds costs and makes it difficult for farmers to clearly see how much money is generated from their tea and what deductions are made before payment.
“Instead of coming directly to factories so that directors can pay farmers and pay other deductions for KTDA, those payments go to another bank and then back to KTDA, then goes to the factory for only viewing, then back to KTDA to change to dollars, then to the bank to be channeled to the factory,” he explained.
Rono said the government wants to simplify the process so that farmers can have better visibility of their earnings.
He added that KTDA had agreed to start advertising the new system within one month and have it operational within three months.
This puts the expected rollout of the digital payment platform in November 2026.
Chelal factory gets KSh51.2 million
The announcement was made during a visit that also saw the government release KSh51.2 million to support the upgrade of Chelal Tea Factory.
The factory is among 17 facilities selected for the first phase of the government’s tea industry modernisation programme.
Rono also flagged off 10,000 tea seedlings for farmers in the area and distributed protective boots to tea workers to improve safety during harvesting.
The PS further directed the Tea Board of Kenya to strengthen monitoring at tea buying centres.
The board was asked to address cases of irregular weighing and support the establishment of tea kiosks at the centres.
The planned payment system is part of wider government efforts to change how tea farmers receive and track proceeds from their produce, particularly amid longstanding concerns over deductions and the amount growers eventually take home.