Nyayo Tea Zones Corporation to commission second factory in Kirinyaga

The factory has two lines: the first line with a capacity to process 7 million kilograms of green leaf annually has already been installed.

The second line, which will be soon be commissioned, is dedicated to diversifying and adding value to tea through processing specialty and orthodox teas (including purple tea) which will help sustain the organization conservation mandate. But this is not where the Nyayo Tea Zones story starts.

In the beginning

Nyayo Tea Zones Development Corporation was established in 1986 by the Government of Kenya to protect forests through establishing a buffer zones of tea and assorted tree species around Kenya’s gazetted forests in a bid to stop humans’ encroachment.

These forests include; Mt. Kenya Forest and Nyambene Hills, the Aberdare Ranges, the Mau Forest complex, Nandi Forest, Cherangani Hills, Kakamega Equatorial Forest and Mt. Elgon.

At its inception, NTZDC was mandated to:

Protect and conserve forests, rehabilitate ecologically fragile areas by planting tea, indigenous trees, fuelwood plantations and other suitable tree crops on buffer zones

• Establish and manage nurseries for propagating tea and tree seedlings
• Establish, manage and maintain tea processing factories and process tea
• Construct and maintain rural access roads, offices and green leaf collection centres
• Transport, lease, sell or market in Kenya or outside Kenya any tea, wood or other products produced or processed by the Corporation or its agents.

What is a buffer zone?

Buffer zones are areas created to protect specific conservation areas such as forests. The buffer zones protect the natural environment and help keep neighbouring ecological niches stable and functioning. 

In a forest environment, the buffer area adjoins the core conservation areas (forests and water towers) where nature is conserved alongside compatible human uses of the land or water, including sustainable agriculture, forestry, recreation or ecotourism.

An economic buffer zone ensures a balanced and sustainable and conserved environment and also provides livelihood support to peri-forest communities. 

Nyayo Tea Zones and Conservation

NTZDC is a conservation organization that grows tea and other tree species as a buffer to keep humans away from the gazetted forests. These tea buffer zones have allowed the forests in the water tower catchment areas to flourish, have greatly reduced illegal logging and curbed human encroachment. 

The natural ecosystems in the protected areas have been restored through reforestation, leading to the resurgence of some seasonal rivers in the conserved areas.

In its initial years, the buffer zones covered a stretch of about 300 km, or about 3,000 hectares. Today, Nyayo Tea Zones cover 943 km (or 9,430 hectares) of tea and assorted tree species, which protect over 975,582 hectares of gazetted forests. This is about 0.96 percent of the entire forest cover in the country. 

The forests and water towers protected by Nyayo Tea Zones represent about 0.96 percent of the 4.2 million hectares of the total forest cover in the country.

Though this may appear as a small portion of the total forest cover, these 100-metre wide buffer zones are an exceptional conservation model that blends climate smart agriculture, tea and tree planting and community empowerment into a sustainable best practice in forest conservation. 

Economic importance of Nyayo Tea Zones

Tea is useful as a cover plant in the buffer belt. It is also an important cash crop that is harvested throughout the year. Currently 4,068 hectares is under tea and 5,235 hectares under assorted tree species. 

For a long time, the Corporation’s tea was processed externally. It opened its first tea processing factory, Kipchabo Tea Factory, in Nandi County in 2010. The second factory, Gatitu Tea Factory, is being commissioned today. 

The Corporation has embarked on tea value addition to produce specialty teas that fetch premium prices on the markets. 

It estimates in the next five years green leaf production will increase from the current high levels of Ksh 37 million to Ksh 50 million, and see an annual turnover of Kenya shilling 5 billion.

And the area under tea and trees will expand by a further 1500 hectares. Proceeds from green tea and made tea are ploughed back to expand the buffer zones and conservation activities. 

Meeting the National Development Plans

The Corporation’s two tea processing factories are ensuring its continued sustainability through diversifying products and value adding through processing and branding.

The factories are supporting the Kenya Vision 2030 development blueprint that seeks to make the country East Africa’s largest economy and the continent’s manufacturing hub. 

In addition, the Corporation has played a critical role in preserving the biodiversity in Kenya’s highland forests that support the key water towers. This is benefitting the country’s rain-fed agriculture and contributing to food security. 

Gatitu Tea Factory is one of the Corporation’s flagship projects implemented under the Big Four Agenda and the Kenya Vision 2030 to support the Manufacturing and Food Security pillars.

The factory also supports two anchors of the Agriculture Sector Transformation Growth Strategy: increased small-scale farmer incomes, and increased agricultural output and value addition for sustainable development. 

Gatitu Tea Factory will also support the livelihoods of communities in its catchment area through buying green leaf from small-scale outgrower farmers who will also be trained in good agricultural practices, creating employment opportunities, and developing and maintaining infrastructure such as access roads and other amenities.

The catchment zones will continue to engage the local communities who provide labour for maintaining the tea and forest blocks, in turn deriving a livelihood out of these activities. It is a win–win formula for all.