Overall targets
Overall objective of present initiative: To increase the skills and knowledge among smallholder tea farmers from Honde Valley in relation to white tea production.
Immediate targets
Immediate objectives: • To gain technical knowledge on how white tea is produced in Kenya. • To investigate the value chain and the local and regional market for white tea. • To give the delegates the opportunity to learn about good agricultural practices that increases tea production as well as leadership and financial transparency in farmers association.
Target groups
The greater target group is the small-scale tea growers organised in the HVTGA. In 2019, there were 423 farmers in the association composed of 242 women and 148 men, out of which 33 are youth. The project aims to involve 50% of the farmers in the training activities facilitated by the project. A total of 210 tea growers will be the primary target group. With an average of six persons per family, over 1,200 people are going to directly benefit from the project.
Resume
This intervention will implement a study tour to Kenya together with the local partner PUTZ. The participants will get insight in all aspects of the white tea production, marketing and organization of sales. The delegation gets an opportunity to meet, discuss, observe and see for themselves what smallholder farmers in Kenya are doing and how the production of white tea highly benefits their livelihood and income in comparison to production of black tea. During the study tour it will be possible to investigate the local and regional market for white tea and explore the possibilities of transferring the structures to Zimbabwe. The farmers can observe the benefits of control over a larger part of the value chain: producing, packaging and labelling the white tea in own organization. Adapting and placing the above obtained knowledge in Zimbabwe paves the way for the farmers ability to control the production process and to sell the white tea for a much better price than what is possible to get for black tea.