A tea farmer. The review period was characterised by low production but farmers earned good prices compared to 2016 [Photo/mygov.go.ke]

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Kenya small-scale farmers were the third highest earners in the world last year, says a new report. Despite the severe weather conditions occasioned last year due to the prolonged drought, farmers earned impressive prices at the Mombasa tea auction.Tea industry performance report 2017 released on Monday revealed that auction average prices at Sh298 ($2.98) are amongst the highest globally after Sri Lanka Sh402 ($4.02) and Rwanda Sh320 ($3.20) per kilogram of made tea respectively.Kenya is the leading exporter of black crush, tear, curl (CTC) teas in the world, accounting for about 24 per cent of the global exports. Pakistan, Egypt, United Kingdom, UAE, Sudan and Russia top the list of export destinations of Kenya tea.Samuel Ogola, the interim head of tea directorate under the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), said the review period was characterised by low production but farmers earned good prices compared to 2016.“The prices increased to Sh298 last year up from Sh236 recorded in 2016. The good prices are attributable to low supply and consistency in quality,” said Ogola.Production in the period under the review, Ogola said, with the tea sub-sector being rain fed, suffered from unfavorable weather conditions.He confirmed production last year stood at 439 million kilograms, seven per cent down compared to 473 million kilograms in 2016. During the first half of the year, depressed rainfall led to output decline.“The drought was more prevalent in the East Rift leading to nine percent decline to 152 million kgs compared to 168 million kgs while West Rift was down at five percent to 287 million kgs from 304 million kgs.“However, Ogola said the 2017 election anxiety had no impact on production. The report notes that five counties Kericho, Nandi, Bomet, Murang’a and Kiambu account for 66 per cent of the total production.During the review period, the area under tea increased to 217, 586 hectares in 2017 from 215, 846 Ha recorded in 2016.