NAIROBI, Kenya, May 24 – Eastern Produce Kenya (EPK) plans to spend Sh260 million to sustain quality tea production as well as work on projects that protect the environment.
The Nandi-based firm announced that the three-year initiative will focus on energy efficiency, carbon footprint reductions, social care enhancement, and environmental conservation.
EPK Director Leah Kibii Chirchir said that in efforts to create a clear differentiation for a Kenyan tea brand in international markets, tea producers should ensure that the quality of local leaves is crucial.
“At EPK, we support the movement towards developing a world-class Kenyan tea brand based on recognisable quality and sustainability. This will require tea industry collaboration,” Chirchir said during an event to mark this year’s International Tea Day celebrations recently.
“Tea is a people industry requiring high levels of continuous training and experienced, focused management at all levels to produce premium tea,” she added.
“It also includes high welfare standards, environmental conservation, and best-practice factory energy efficiency to comfort our worldwide customers and give them the best farm-to-tea-cup quality experience.”
This year, EPK plans to plant over 15,000 indigenous trees, including 250 in Nandi Hills Primary School recently, and donate 750 tree seedlings to 13 local schools within the area as part of its sustainability agenda. This is in support of the government’s 15 billion tree planting programme.
EPK says it is also keen on reducing its thermal energy consumption in its tea factories, targeting an 18 percent reduction through a robust energy-saving culture, improved efficiency in boiler operations, and innovative waste heat recovery mechanisms.
“At EPK, we are keen to achieve quality through maintaining superior employee welfare, world-class tea production underpinned by our sustainable practices that prioritise climate action through our custodial management that ensure we enrich all catchment areas and indigenous forests that makeup 48% of the land across all our estates,” said Chirchir.
