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Writer's picturejohn snell

Brave Governments can make great tea and/or tea great!

Updated: Nov 10

It has been a long time since I tasted a really "Jammy" Assam or "Germalene" (Too young?) Uva or indeed had my breath taken away by a cracking Ikumbi or other EOR Kenya. It is however only yesterday that I tasted truly great Rwandan black tea or should I say Rwandan tea as good as I remember.


Rwandan Mountain Tea sweeps the awards at the East African Tea Conference 2024


 All to say that this is about sustaining tea quality rather than a personal preference commentary; indeed, all these origins have an invaluable part to play in the fortunes of tea going forward! There are reasons, topographical, geological, botanical and otherwise why each origin offers up different teas but they all have the ability to be the best they can be, or not.

If it were left to the industry, any industry for that matter, the idea that they would not do everything to maintain a winning formula is farcical but the intervention of externalities compromises this obvious ambition.

What might these include? Well, we can start with the unintended consequences of amazing R&D, within the sector, leading to higher yielding clones that increase the productivity per Ha of land planted. By itself, this would appear to be nothing short of brilliant development and so it is, when utilized in harmony with factory capacity expansion informed by other metrics, including market demand, risk management and, going back to the top, a continued mandate to produce the best that can be produced.


New varietal nursery, Kangaita (KTDA)

But balance is key here and an unfettered focus on productivity, be it from the above or other mechanisms (planting densities, field inputs etc) will lose the day, unless you have tapped into a unique and unquenchable market space, for which I applaud you!!

And, it's not as if this ageing tea chap has all the answers or is preaching to an unknowing audience, WE ALL GET IT!! So, what's the problem?


People and politics:

Any laborious industry attracts political interests! These bodies of workers and their family's represent a voting density hard to ignore and hence the influence begins. The issues here are obvious and oft stated, by many.

A 4 year electoral term is so out of synch with the 40 year healthy life span of a tea bush and therefore minimum commitment of a farmer thus influencing an individual whose commitment is 10 x your own is fraught with issues. Bravery is required to understand that doing the right thing by the Farmer, the industry which he serves and to the decades, long after you have gone, is beneficial to your term, legacy and, ultimately, your nation .

The odd thing is that bravery seems in scant supply, despite others having shown that staying the course of quality over quantity has legs. Bravery is determining that while yield is a quicker deliverable, quality will win every time.


Aesop's fable is apt Tortoise = Quality, Hare= Short term gains


Not "One's" issue!

It should be stated that, this is not only a Government issue but one mimicked by multinationals, who have a similarly mismatched timeframe for success (quarterly reports and/or the two year Marketing executive shelf life!), and NGOs, whose pay masters, retailers and multinationals have well..er, you get the picture.


The exasperating part to this is the intransigence in the face of evidence! Leading farmers and the trade down a path, towards a destination that has not just sprung upon us but has been made glaringly obvious by the myriad sources available to all. The real price of tea has been on a steady decline.....Apart from, yes you guessed it, where quality (Note "Quality" whatever the make!) has been strictly maintained!


One size does fit all!

We often here the word "pivoting" being used by small businesses, a change of direction out of necessity and the trade should do the same but, the first step to pivoting is the identification of the inability to succeed without change and a will to act differently, to affect a better outcome. This requires the bravery to accept one's failures and to act.

The alternative to pivoting is to excuse oneself through deflection. These "reasons" for failure have been levelled at everything from the historical, to systemic, sales mechanisms and a focus on the uneven division of spoils, as it were. Now, no one is saying that there are not structural issues, that need addressing, but "fiddling while Rome burns" comes to mind, as these will not mend the Farmer's lot nor that of the industry.

The culprit is a clear disregard for the simplest of commercial equations, supply and demand.

Extract from Combrok's Mombasa market report 30th October 2024

Bravery is not the purview of small businesses, though they are unencumbered by entrenched mechanisms and structure that may make larger entities (all those mentioned above) shy away from their own recognition of the need to pivot. However, neither do they have the influence of Government, in particular, to impact so generously through the enactment of policies.


Policy does work

In India, we see influence of Government in halting all production from the end of November, protecting the trade from an undesirable mix of poor quality volume that can only harm the health of industry, consumption and overall brand equity. This is a small move but exemplifies the ability for Politicians to act in a commercially responsible manner; not interfere but act in support of consultation with industry.


In East Africa the, potential envy of the tea production world (for a blend that includes a highly developed workforce, KTDA, planting material and terroir), the imbalance of the commercial equation makes one scratch one's head or not, if you have taken in anything above.


The quality is naturally there, every 7 days or so, and the right skill set can nurture this through to the consumer

Quantity is a policy driven factor first, land use, incentives and other tools are all at man's disposal.


Solution provisions are way beyond this simple soul but obvious remedial grass root policies are at hand, for those brave enough to care!




A delve into these next time!




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