Boycott

Tea farmers from the highly productive Thumaita section of Kirinyaga's Zone Five have boycotted picking the green leafs as from early this morning.

The furious farmers cited the deduction of a kilogram of green tea delivered at the various buying centers by the KTDA.

They are accusing the new KTDA board of Directors of taking them for a ride.

The farmers are however peaceful unlike in the recent past when they massively destroyed property belonging to some former directors during a similar uprising .

Kirinyaga Senator Kamau Murango who is in full support of the farmers has told the Board to stop the move which has now adversely affected the sector.

The Board ,it has been claimed has told off the Senator  reminding him to stick to his Legislative mandate and County Government oversight .

It has also emerged the aggrieved farmers grouped together  and matched to  the factory to ensure no  activities took place .

Farmers are against a move by the KTDA  Board to deduct a kilo  from every  bag they delivered for processing at various buying centers .

When  the new Board  came into office a year ago , the farmers were being deducted only half a kilogram per one basket but recently doubled the amount .

It was not clear why the Board  did not seek for public participation  before  instituting the measure the  farmers have termed aas ;punitive  and undemocratic .

The tea sector is a fragile one  and requires special handling since the crop is among the top foreign earners for the country .

Should the Board fail to resolve the matter at once , the trend  is likely to spill over to the other four factories which comprise  of Zone Five.