Tea farmers from Nyamira County have a reason to smile after the county leadership held bilateral talks with representatives from Czech Republic on Thursday evening.
This comes amid concerns by farmers on the competitiveness of area factories in securing good markets for the leading cash crop in the county after yet other dismal bonuses that saw a leading factory giving Sh19 per kilogram of tea.
Governor John Nyagarama hailed the government of Czech Republic for its close cooperation with Kenya and emphasised his optimism that the country will provide market for the tea.
“I am convinced that Czech is one of the close partners of the country and through these talks, I am now confident that we will be able to sell our tea produce to the nation. Having strong partners from European Union is a big boosts to local farmers and i hope this will be a start of ending dominance of brokers from the market,” he said.
Czech Republic representative Mr Yogan Zukov reiterated the commitment of his county to trade with county governments across the country to boost its foreign policy relationships and get access to products that are widely used in the country.
“I am also pleased with the talks today and this is a significant move in making it easy for my people to access vital commodities like tea without going through bureaucracies. We look forward to work with all counties in Kenya,” he said.
According to governor Nyagarama, his government will work hard to seek markets for the tea produce to limit bureaucracies that factories from the region go through when selling the product, given the increasing number of brokers in the market.