Mataara tea factory farmers have been urged to produce quality tea that will attract better market thus giving the farmers good returns especially during bonuses.
Speaking at the factory on Wednesday morning while welcoming a new production supervisor, the factory director Joseph Mukora noted that the factory had made better profits in the year 2015 which he said was occasioned by government intervention in seeking for better tea products market in foreign countries.
Mukora noted that quality tea production starts from the farmer where he urged farmers to only pluck the desired quality. He said that the education imparted to farmers by various experts from the factory would also help them produce better quality.
He urged farmers to further consider establishing trenches to allow better flow of water which he said destroys the roots of tea plants. He further noted that the trenches would allow water to flow without moving with the soil nutrients and thereby allowing the farmers to gain more from tea plantations.
"I am urging farmers to be sensitive while plucking tea. The quality our buyers are demanding is very high and that starts right from the farm. As we welcome our new production manager, i am also sending a request to our staff to handle the production process well to help us realise the best quality that will lead to better returns," he said.
Mukora said that the factory had a gross profit of Kshs. 21 million this year as compared to its neighbouring factory, Gachege tea factory which had Kshs. 19 million. He however urged the government to renovate Mataara-Thika road to ease movement of tea products and fertilisers to desired destinations.
The new production manager John Kang'ethe replaces Michael Njau who moved to Makomboki tea factory.