Tea plucking machines ‘do a better job’

The Tea Research Foundation is conducting intensive research on mechanised tea harvesting to reduce cost of production.

The organisation’s managing director Francis Wachira said technological advancement in the tea industry should be embraced to make it more vibrant and competitive internationally.

Prof Wachira said that the research institute had been conducting research on the need to mechanise the industry.

He said the institute had done research on the use of tea pruning and plucking machines and found out they cut cost by about 80 per cent compared to when people are used to pluck leaves or prune the crop.

“Without embracing the new technology, the tea industry will not move to the next level. I therefore appeal to the players in the industry to embrace new technology so that it remains vibrant,” he said.

Speaking at the institute in Kericho County when he received a delegation of 10 Members of Parliament from Uganda, the MD revealed one person plucks an average of 40kg of leaves per day compared to the tea plucking machine operated by two people that plucks 1,600kg per day.

He said two other persons are employed to sort the leaves to maintain quality.

Pruning one acre of the crop using a knife requires seven persons and the cost is more than Sh7,000 compared to pruning using the machine that requires two people and costs Sh4,000.

“Mechanisation saves about 78 per cent of the crop costs,” said Prof Wachira.

Top officials from Kenya Plantations and Agricultural Workers Union led by the secretary general Francis Atwoli are strongly opposed to the introduction of mechanisation of the tea industry.