NYAMIRA, Kenya, Mar 28 – The Tea Board of Kenya, in collaboration with officers of weights and measures, has seized a faulty tea weighing scale from the Tombe tea factory in Nyamira county.
The director of compliance and surveillance at the Tea Board of Kenya, Samuel Njane, told the press during their surveillance in the Gusii region that there have been numerous complaints countrywide from tea farmers over the dwindling weight of tea leaves from their farms, which compelled them to conduct an impromptu surveillance exercise.
“Tea farmers from both the East and west of the Rift have logged complaints about factory clerks accusing them of manipulating tea leaves weighing scales which indicate less weight of tea leaves than the actual weight leading to huge economic loss to farmers,” Mr. Njane explained.
“We have discovered that for sure some factory clerks are using faulty weighing scales whose weight readings have been tampered with and most tea farmers lose their tea weight at the tea buying centres, an area we want to deal with once and for all so that farmers can benefit from their hard labour of farming this cash crop,” added Njane.
He advised tea farmers to be on high alert and immediately report any case where tea factory clerks are using faulty weighing scales at the tea buying centres to measure their tea leaves.
“We have seized one faulty weighing scale from Tombe tea factory and we shall investigate it to know how it has been manipulated because its weight readings indicate lesser quantity of tea when measured against our standard weights,” said Erick Ndeke, an officer from weights and measures headquarters in Nairobi.
“Factory unit managers must ensure that they release accurate weighing scales to ensure they give farmers accurate weight reading of their picked tea leaves and anyone caught manipulating the weighing scales will definitely face the full force of the law,” warned Ndeke.
