Prospects for organic tea farming in Kenya: Two case studies

Organic tea farming entails non-use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers, including the processing and packaging of the tea. This implies that documents must be filed which prove all requirements are met throughout the growing, processing, packaging, and which can be traced by the organic certification organization. Today, almost all kinds of tea grown in Kenya are non-organic. This is despite the fact that only NPK fertilizers are used in tea farms. It is difficult just to make an organic tea farm because of the many non-organic tea farms around it. Dispersals of chemical fertilizers or herbicides and other chemical agents interfused through the soil from surrounding farms can enter the organic farm. Therefore, it is necessary to make a buffer zone or shelterbelt between an organic tea farm and nonorganic tea farm or to embrace organic tea cultivation together with the neighbouring farmers. However, the starting point is to establish that organic tea can indeed be grown economically. Two long term studies comparing different sources of organic manures in Kericho and Kangaita were assessed for yield, some soil properties and tea quality chemical parameters. The results reveal that although the organic manures do not give as high yields as the enriched manure treatments from inorganic sources, rates of 120-150 kgN/ha would suffice to replenish the lost nutrients thus maintaining tea bush health and also optimal yields. The soil pH, available K and Ca results also demonstrated that the organic manures can maintain the acidity levels of the soils thus addressing the often controversial land sustainability problem arising from use of external inputs in tea agroecosystems. Organic manures and enriched manures increased the TF and TR content while caffeine increased with increase in nitrogen rates. This was more pronounced when using inorganic fertilizers and enriched manures. The study suggests that development and promotion of organic and low carbon in the Tea Industry is key to the attainment of ecological health and environment protection by both the tea producers and consumers. Tea growers have to be compensated by benefiting from premium organic tea prices due to the loss in yields as seen by the higher yields arising from the enriched manures. INTRODUCTION The term “organic” describes how an agricultural product is grown and processed. An organic product is free from chemicals, antibiotics, synthetic hormones, genetic modifications, and sewage sludge, and is minimally processed without artificial ingredients, preservatives, or irradiation in order to maintain the integrity of the food, preserve ecological harmony and promote biodiversity. It is therefore true to say that by consuming organic varieties of tea, we promote our health as well as our land and environment. It is generally acknowledged that an organic tea farm lives together in the ecosystem while a non-organic tea farm tries to control the ecosystem. The advancement of each approach of organic and modern cultivation is completely different, and each has known advantages. Organic farming maintains and replenishes soil fertility without the use of toxic pesticides and fertilizers, instead uses natural methods to control pests, weeds and disease. Nutrient re-cycling is thus crucial in organic tea farming as it reduces nutrient losses in tea fields. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Tea Science and Development 32 A Sustainable Tea Industry for Social, Economical and Technological Development Organic cultivation entails growing of agricultural crops the historic way before modern agriculture commenced. This implies that a certification often done by a third-party state or private certifying organization is essential to verify that a product strictly adheres to the organic standards. The third-party certifier thoroughly inspects the location where the organic product is produced and handled to ensure that all organic standards are established, followed and met. To grow organic tea and to have that tea certified officially creates a unique and pristine environment, which requires special efforts. The following requirements must be met to be officially certified as organic: i) No chemical fertilizer or pesticides for at least three years. ii) Only use organic fertilizer with no genetic modification (that is, no GMOs). iii) The tea must be processed and packaged in separate facilities and lines only for organic tea. iv) Documents must be filed which prove all requirements are met throughout the growing, processing and packaging, and which can be traced. v) All documents, tea farms, processing facilities, and packaging locations are periodically inspected by the organic certification organization. Organic tea has a simple and traditional flavour which is probably the same as tea grown many years ago in countries that have a long history of tea growing including the smallholder sub-sector in Kenya. Organic tea therefore directly brings the antecedents in the flavour than non-organic tea. The antecedents are the features of breed, soil, climate, and efforts by the farmer. Examples include; Japan, where the flavour of organic Japanese tea is affected by farmer’s efforts, climate and soil. To grow high grade and quality organic tea, it is required to meet some terms, which are: i) extra time and effort, ii) the range of temperature between day and night in the rolling hills, and iii) calcareous earth. There are not so many places even in Japan which are perfect for farming high quality organic tea. When a lot of time and effort is put into the growing of organic tea, the tea flavour can be highly improved. Unfortunately, such excellent grade and quality organic tea is rare, because most organic farmers think that growing such high grade organic tea will not bring farmers economic success, but just require a lot of time and effort. Most tea farmers in Japan therefore grow low to middle grade organic tea. In Kenya, efforts to have quality determination, hence marketing through location of production, for instance Geographic Indicators, are in progress. Organic fertilizer works slowly, chemical fertilizer in non-organic tea farms makes the growing process much easier. From the perspective of modern cultivation, it can be said that chemical fertilizers produced considerable improvement of traditional cultivation and brought the Tea Industry amazingly high productivity and is definitely one of the contributions of modern agriculture. An organic tea farm generally has beneficial insects and bugs (for instance, earthworms, embryo of insects, ants, and beneficial bacteria), has soil that is softer and airy due to long term use of organic fertilizers, and it encourages full canopy cover to reduce on manual weeding. Complete documentation (record keeping) and an annual audit must be done for an organic tea farm that includes the following: i) purchasing organic fertilizer, ii) tea farm operation, which include fertilizing, weeding and harvesting, iii) production outputs and control of all of them; and iv) delivery management. To ensure compliance, an annual audit is practiced every year by an auditor of the organic certification body. All of the above documents are inspected to make sure they meet and exceed the organic certification requirements. The organic materials commonly used especially by the smallholders, according to Lekasi (2003), include: i) Fresh, dried or composted livestock and poultry manure. ii) Crop residues that are recycled after a crop is harvested. iii) Green manure obtained either on or off the farm. iv) Biomass resulting from short and long-term fallows. v) Agro-industrial by-products such as coffee husks and sugarcane bagasse. vi) Forest litter, bark and wood shavings.