Kenyan tea farmers are set to receive millions of shillings in bonus payments, with over 700,000 small-scale growers under the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) to benefit. The funds have already been disbursed and will be accessible to farmers starting Monday, October 12, 2026, during normal banking hours. KTDA Holdings chairperson Enos Njeru confirmed that farmers can access their money from Monday.
This year's payout comes with a notable change in communication, with individual tea factories now declaring their own bonus rates, referred to as second payments. Although factories have not yet disclosed the total payout amount, farmers can anticipate bonus rates ranging from Sh12.50 to Sh50 per kilogramme, depending on the factory they supply.
The 77 tea factories operating under KTDA have been consolidated into 54 units, including satellite factories that fall under larger mother factories. Each factory's final payout depends heavily on its earnings from selling tea at the Mombasa Tea Auction and through direct sales to local and export buyers. Several factors, including rainfall, altitude, soil quality, and farming practices, influence buyer demand.
Before calculating the bonus, factories must cover their operating costs, including processing, salaries, fuel, loan repayments, transport, equipment, and statutory obligations. The remaining amount determines how much farmers ultimately take home. Currency fluctuations between the Kenyan shilling and the US dollar during the trading period also play a role in shaping final payouts.
The process of calculating the tea bonus works in stages, with farmers receiving a "first payment," a monthly rate paid for green leaf delivered to their factory. The annual bonus is calculated by totaling the factory's earnings, subtracting expenses, and factoring in the total volume of green leaf received over the year.
Even with the same rate card applying to all growers within a zone, actual payouts depend on how much tea each individual farmer delivered over the year, which in turn depends on plantation size, farming practices, and overall productivity. This explains why bonus rates differ widely from one factory to another.
In the 2024/25 financial year, farmers collectively pocketed Sh69.8 billion in bonuses, a drop of roughly Sh20 billion compared to the Sh89.6 billion paid out the year before. With the bonus payments set to be released, farmers can now look forward to receiving their earnings.
Key points
- Over 700,000 small-scale tea farmers to benefit from bonus payments
- Bonus rates range from Sh12.50 to Sh50 per kilogramme, depending on the factory
- 77 tea factories consolidated into 54 units for payout calculation purposes
