Farmers allied to Nyansiongo tea factory in Nyamira county have a reason to smile after the factory agreed to allow them work on weekends due to increased tea produce from their farms.
This comes after a section of farmers from Gesima zone wrote a letter to the management requesting for increased tea picking days to offload the commodity from their farms.
Factory’s chairman Christopher Nyakora on Monday announced the decision to extend tea picking days from the current five to seven following an executive meeting.
“We have assessed the request from farmers and due to ongoing rains (favorable to tea farming) we have agreed as management to extend tea picking days to weekends. This will give farmers humble time to offload the produce,” Nyakora said.
He said the decision was temporary and will last till the month of December as the factory officially starts recruitment of 100 casual labourers to effect the decision.
"It is a temporary one and it will be suspended by the end of December. We have already given a circular for recruitment of 100 casual labourers to be working on weekends to sustain the decision,” he added.
The decision was received with unanimous support by a section of farmers from Nyaronge area who termed it ‘long overdue’.
“We have really waited for the decision for a while now. Some of us are 'Sunday keepers' while others are 'Saturday keepers' so I don’t think it (decision) will affect our worshiping beliefs," said Evans Ndemo, a tea farmer.