As the Tea Board of Kenya celebrates a century of existence, it is intriguing to understand its fascinating journey.

Let’s pick it from Kericho, the cradle of tea growing in Kenya.

Located in the highlands west of the Kenyan Rift Valley at the edge of the Mau Forest, Kericho benefits from a warm and temperate climate. Today, it is one of the leading tea-growing counties in the country.

The first tea in Kericho was planted in Kapkorech by a Mr Barclay in 1912, having imported tea seed from Ceylon, present-day Sri Lanka.

This began the story of tea growing in the country, with the first tea factory, a small plant, built in 1924 at Kapkorech to process tea from the 50 acres that now existed. Today, there are over 141 tea factories in Kenya.

Barclay’s success inspired other white settlers, and in 1921, an experimental field of tea was established near Jamji which was later sold to Lord Egerton. Egerton would later expand into what was already established at Kapkorech and Chemosit to form the Bureti Tea Company which metamorphosized into the Mau Forest Tea Company which exists to date, albeit under different owners.

Kaisugu Tea Company was also born in 1926 after farmers came together and started a tea plantation.

However, in the 1930s and 1940s, the International Restriction Scheme was put in place to restrict new planting and export worldwide due to falling prices. However, following an appeal by the colonial government in Kenya, farmers in Sotik were able to establish the Arroket and Kipkebe plantations

As the dust settled in the 1930s and 1940s, Limuru, Kericho and Nandi had become the main tea-growing areas, with three families, Caine, Wilson and Turton, getting land grants in the areas respectively.

As early as the 1950s, Kenyan tea was dominating the sips in European countries, with the biggest world tea dealers making an edge out of it.

Among the companies that dominated the tea industry in the world, with a presence in Kenya, was the Brooke Bond, which had a vast tea plantation in Kericho.

At that time, most parts of Kenya were still a virgin land. With the need to satisfy the demand for tea in Europe, multinational tea farms were established in the country, especially in Kericho.

Brooke Bond, trading as the African Highlands Produce, entered Kenya almost the same time as James Finlay in the 1920s and developed their new properties, acquiring land, some already having tea plantations, but the bulk being virgin land to develop their plantations.

Brooke Bond, which had overtaken Lyons to become the largest tea company in the world, was one of the lucky companies that bought the lands in Kericho in 1925, for £3 an acre. Historians record that by 1963 the Brooke Bond plantation covered 30,000 acres.

By 1963, Brooke Bond was very successful in the sector and was already running a tea campaign in Europe, depicting how forests had been cleared to pave the way for tea plantations in parts of the world.

Some of the text in the advertorial read, “The forest has been beaten. The matted undergrowth and tangled vines are gone. The trees have been felled and uprooted. Shade trees have been planted. A new tea estate is born.”

Months before Kenya acquired its independence in 1963, Brook Bond commissioned Adrian Flowers, a photographer, to take photos in its plantations in Africa for new magazine ads.

In one of his observations on the African climate, specifically in Kericho, Flowers wrote, “It’s nearly on the equator but in spite of that it is temperate because of the rain that falls so often. This is what makes it suitable for tea, although it has been grown here a few years.”

Flowers’ description painted a bolder picture of the potential of tea growing in Kenya, alongside the hundreds of photos he took for the company.

Other historians record that apart from the potential of tea growing in Kenya, there was a need to find ways to generate wealth for the colony and the settlers as well as servicing the expensive loans that had been taken to build the Kenya Uganda railway.

Among the factors that generated interest and encouraged tea growing include the availability of land, suitable tea-growing conditions and the abundance of cheap labour.

Tea growing restrictions

East Africa was initially excluded from the International Tea Regulation Scheme established in 1933 to control tea exports and stabilize the market, and to protect its young industry.

Historical evidence reveals that Kenya’s tea sector, which had minimal exports, was spared export restrictions but limited in expanding its acreage.

Larger firms adjusted, but smaller growers needed additional planting rights, leading to an allotment of 1,000 acres under a licensing system.

In 1938, the scheme was renewed with East Africa fully joining with special provisions that allowed small growers and new farmers to plant more tea in suitable areas.

However, after World War II, Kenya and other East African territories withdrew from the scheme seeking unrestricted growth to support their economies.

The scheme would later collapse as many countries withdrew, but Kenya maintained a licensing system, later overseen by the Tea Board of Kenya, to monitor expansion if needed.

Birth of Tea Board of Kenya

In his writings, historian Peter Murray reveals that in 1950, the colonial administration had founded the Tea Board of Kenya, partly to prevent small-scale tea farmers from competing with large producers.

“After the brutal suppression of the Mau Mau uprising, more equitable policies were introduced. Dominated by men, the trade unions at Kericho fought effectively on behalf of the plantation employees,” Murray writes in his story which covers Flowers’ journey in Kenya.

The introduction of reforms on tea policies saw the Tea Board of Kenya become a perfect link between the private and public sectors as it had representation from both sides. The board was allocated the powers of licensing tea growing and representing the interests of the producers.

In 1952, there was an attempt to allocate the Board more powers, including that of handling sales of tea on behalf of the producers.

After a protracted battle, the Tea Board Of Kenya was allowed to take over the research function run by the Tea Research Institute of Kenya (later renamed Tea Research Foundation of Kenya (TRFK)), which had been previously run by Brooke Bond.

Following progressive tea reforms, the government insisted on having TRFK funded by the Tea industry based on the amount of tea which was sold in auctions. The Tea Board of Kenya would receive two per cent of the amount realized in auctions. While a bigger chunk of the funds received by the Tea Board went to administrative functions, 20 per cent of the amount collected would go to TRFK for financing research.

Functions of the Tea Board of Kenya today

The Tea Board of Kenya today is tasked with guiding the development, promotion, and regulation of the tea industry, coordinating activities of individuals and organizations in the tea industry, facilitating equitable access to the resources and benefits of the tea industry by all interested parties, making recommendations on the formulation of policies plans and strategies for the regulation of the sub-sector and registering tea factories, tea growers, warehouse operators tea packers, tea buyers, exporters, importers brokers, management agents, tea auction organizers, and green leaf transporters;

The Board is also tasked with licensing tea manufacturers, promoting best practices and standards along the value chain, facilitating the marketing and distribution of tea, coordinating prioritization of research, regulating the sale import and export of tea and developing a national tea marketing strategy.