KABAROLE: An official from the National Agricultural Research Organisation [ NARO ] has advised that tea farmers in Kabarole district and other parts of the country should add value to their agricultural produce if they are to earn more money from it.
Dr. Rabooni Tumuhimbise, the director Rwebitaba Zonal Agricultural Research Development Institute [ZARDI], says adding value to tea is the only way farmers can fetch higher prices from the crop.
“Our tea produced here in Uganda has issues of poor quality and prices. This is because we don’t have a policy that regulates the industry,” Tumuhimbise said.
He said farmers can however earn good money once they add value to their tea.
The official said since 2019, NARO has been adding value to some tea, adding that they have products on market, although he said other tea products were still being tested.
For instance, he said, Rwebitaba ZARDI has successfully developed black tea bags specifically blended from tea clone 303/577 that has a fresh taste.
He said they also have a green beverage which has numerous health benefits as it has proteins averaging between 15-20 dry weights, whose enzymes constitute an important fraction of amino acids such as thiamine.
“To add more value to the crop, our scientists have processed tea oil from tea seeds, soap, body lotions, and others but some are still under trial,” he said.
He said this is an important development for them because it can ably help reduce overreliance on refined oils.
According to researchers, green tea has natural healthy components and mineral elements such as zinc and selenium.
They say it is loaded with amino acids and vitamins which reduce cholesterol and soften blood vessels.
Regular drinking of green tea is recommended for reducing body fats and controlling blood pressure and easing stress while it promotes digestion.
This growing obsession however has seen more green tea imports from other parts of the world, especially China and Kenya.
Worse still, herbalists have started producing products they claim are green tea which they sell to unsuspecting buyers.
Tumuhimbise observed that hygiene and efficiency would make farmers make money even before production is taken to an industrial scale.
He suggested starting from women’s groups or taking up the idea with cottage industries.
Uganda currently earns more than US$104 million from tea exports, notwithstanding the fact that the industry in the country supports more than 500,000 people in the value chain.
However, the dependence on imported finished brands has become a threat to the country’s tea sector that lacks behind its regional peers.
A kilogramme of harvested tea leaves goes for Shs 320 yet labour and other inputs, tea are expensive, making the venture very costly to the farmers.
“This is why tea product diversification is important because right now everyone in the country is concentrating more on black tea. Therefore, producing specialty teas for niche markets can help the industry,” Tumuhimbise said.
The NARO official said the achievement would transform the traditional production of tea where most farmers sell the leaves for black tea leaves.
“If farmers apply this technology, it will be a revolution that can effectively improve tea farmers with remarkable economic benefits,” he added.
At a research level, the scientists have successfully carried out trials concluding that a pack of 100 grammes of green tea can cost about Shs 10,000 yet an equivalent of black tea is Shs 3,000.
Tumuhimbise argued that to produce black tea, one needs to invest in setting up a factory, yet with green tea, farmers can process specialty tea at home.
https://thecooperator.news/tea-farmers-lose-billions-of-shillings/
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