Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) (Kenya): What the bonus tells growers
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African farmers in Kenya were legally barred from growing tea until 1956. Today about six hundred thousand smallholders deliver leaf to factory companies they own, and fifty four of those factories own KTDA Holdings, which manages them. Each year, the bonus tells growers what that ownership is worth. A government audit ordered in 2020 found growers' money lost on land and legal fees, and recommended prosecutions; the record does not say what followed. Payouts then reached a record. Later, reporting on a Tea Board audit found that in some factories, borrowing described as bonus financing had covered operating deficits. KTDA blamed the debt on unsold tea stocks.
