Tea farmers associated with the Kebirigo Tea Factory have been urged to sign the Tea Green Leaf Supply Agreement because it has been drafted to benefit them.
According to a senior director in Kebirigo Tea Factory, Griffins Mokaya, the farmers were being misled by some local elected leaders not to sign the contract saying all other tea farmers from tea growing zones had signed the agreement.
Addressing Tea farmers in Kiamongo Tea buying Center in Kebirigo area on Thursday evening, he explained that the agreement was meant to spell out details about tea quantity the farmers will be delivering to the factory per year as well as outlining the procedure to be followed when a farmer wants to pull out from the factory.
He said some local leaders were politicising the matter by alleging that if the farmers signed the agreement, they would be denied rights to own the factory.
The tea farmers, who had earlier petitioned the county assembly of Nyamira to intervene, vowed not to sign the contract claiming they were not sensitised about the agreement details and also termed the contract as outdated.
The farmers are still counting losses to date since the factory has defied their call to collect their green leaf.
He added that the supply agreement was initiated by the tea development authority to streamline the relationship between farmers and factory managements on the process of delivering their green leaf and ways of accessing inputs like fertilisers.
“We have gone to the affected farmers and the information we gathered shows its only some farmers from a few families who are being misled by a local MCA to refuse to sign the contract,” he added
He asked the farmers to honour the request by the factory and sign the agreement so they can continue delivering their tea to the factory.