Kenyan tea farmers brace for tough year amid Middle East conflict

NAIROBI, April 17 (Xinhua) — Kenyan tea farmers are bracing for a potential crisis this year as conflict in the Middle East disrupts key trade routes, leading to shipping delays and threatening billions in export earnings, an industry official said on Thursday.

Enos Njeru, chairman of the Kenya Tea Development Agency Holdings, an association that brings together over 600,000 smallholder tea farmers through 54 tea factory companies, said in a statement that the tea sector is under increased pressure due to the conflict.

“This conflict has disrupted key export routes, leading to shipping delays and increased freight and insurance costs,” Njeru said, adding that rising fuel prices in Kenya are expected to push up fertilizer costs, as most agricultural inputs are oil-based, while global shipping rates remain elevated.

“Currently, we are holding tea worth over 3 billion shillings (about 23.3 million U.S. dollars) in our warehouses due to a lack of shipping capacity, and we fear things could get worse in the coming days,” he said.

To mitigate the crisis, Njeru called for interventions to cushion farmers, including lowering taxes on tea, noting that the crop remains heavily taxed.

Kenyan President William Ruto said earlier that while fertilizer supplies are not expected to be disrupted by the conflict, key exports, particularly tea, would face challenges in certain markets.

Tea is one of Kenya’s top foreign exchange earners, with the East African nation earning 218.79 billion shillings from the crop in 2025.