Tea shortage warning as climate crisis sees production plummet and prices soar
Por Rebecca Speare-Cole — – World RSS Feed
Tea shortage warning as climate crisis sees production plummet and prices soar
Local farmers face increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, lower crop yields and quality, alongside escalating operational expenses over recent years
Rebecca Speare-Cole Monday 21 September 2026 00:01 BST
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Kenyan growers who produce black tea for British supermarket shelves have warned that climate impacts are damaging crop harvests and further diminishing their already “scarce” household incomes.
The East African nation currently provides half of all black tea consumed across Britain, but local farmers face increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, lower crop yields and quality, alongside escalating operational expenses over recent years.
These compounding issues have driven up global tea costs, leaving supermarket shoppers in the UK paying noticeably higher prices for their favourite beverage.
Yet impoverished farmers at the start of the supply chain see little financial gain from higher market prices. Harvesting smaller crops while spending more to maintain them, growers watch as intermediaries, brokers and large corporate firms continue absorbing the vast majority of total profits.
Across the western Kenyan regions of Kericho and Bomet, many local agricultural workers say they cannot cover basic family living expenses, let alone invest in essential protective measures to build future climate resilience on their farms.
These areas are experiencing severe weather volatility this year, including heavy rainfall during usually dry January periods, unseasonal heat in July, intense storm activity and prolonged drought conditions.
open image in galleryNelson Ngeno, manager of Fintea, a union of tea farming cooperatives based in Kericho, said farmers are “really scared” as their livelihoods are “cut short” by the changing conditions.
Production across Fintea’s five cooperatives fell by 30% in May and June this year compared to what their farmers usually harvest during those months, he said.
“Climate is really affecting our farmers,” Mr Ngeno said. “There has been a complete change as far as the weather is concerned.
“It is very serious.”
In January, an unprecendented hail storm damaged thousands of tea plants in the district of Kabartegan, with Fintea estimating losses of 20,000 to 30,000kg daily over four months as the plants recovered.
Lilian Mutai Levin Langot, from the village of Kesebet, was among some 500 tea farmers who lost significant earnings when the storm wiped out her farm.
The 48-year-old smallholder farmer told the Press Association: “It was scary. The hailstones hit everything. On the tea plants, only the stems remained.
“I could not pick anything. It meant there was no income. There was nothing. We just had to survive.”
While she normally earns around 120,000 Kenyan Shillings (Kes) annually (£692), this will likely drop to no more than 90,000 Kes (£520) in 2026.
Ms Langot said she has taken out a loan to get through the year but has still struggled to pay for healthcare fees, school fees for her son and the upkeep of her infant granddaughter.
And having bought a cow and calf to diversify her income, the farmer said she was unable to buy enough feed, so the cow stopped producing milk, and both eventually died.
“It was so hard,” she said, adding that she is “very worried” about such a storm happening again.
“It will be so bad on us,” she said. “When we see the rain, we are just hoping: ‘Don’t let it be the hailstones. Let it just be the rain’.”
Meanwhile, Paul Kipsigei Koech, 50, who lives in nearby Chepchabas, told PA that he is earning so little from his tea farm that he can only provide one meal of mushed-up maize each day for his seven children, wife and elderly father.
Extreme weather events are now happening “once a year”, he said. “You can’t predict like we usually do in the previous (years).”
This, alongside the rising cost of living, is putting further pressure on his ability to make ends meet, with his current income sitting at around 3,000 to 4,000 Kes (£17 to £23) a month, equivalent to less than £1 a day.
“The income is really low to support the entire family,” he said, adding that he is also 80,000 Kes (£462) in debt.
“It is not enough. It is very scarce,” he said. “There is no breakfast. No lunch.”
Asked what he would spend the money on if he received a higher price for his produce, Mr Koech said he would pay the fees so his children – the youngest of which is six – could go to school and eventually help to support the family.
open image in gallery“I do not want them to come back to pick tea. I want them to go forward and even get different jobs than what I do,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gladys Maiywa, 50, also from Chepchabas, also earns around 3,000 Kes (£17) a month to support her eight children and sometimes less depending on the weather.
She similarly has sunk 19,000 Kes (£109) in debt to pay for school fees and has an overdraft in the bank of 3,000 Kes.
“It’s very difficult,” she said. “If we get droughts for one, two or three months, we don’t get money. We can’t harvest anything.”
Ms Maiywa said she would spend additional income on her children, their education and build a new home to replace the basic hut they all currently live in.
“I want to see an increase to the rate of pay for our tea,” she added.
And Philip Kitur, a 66-year-old farmer based near Kericho Town, said he has produced 50 per cent less tea than usual for July as climate change and unfair trade practices hit his income.
He said: “A long time ago, the weather was very, very reliable but now the weather patterns have changed.”
His income “just covers the production costs right now”, he said, adding that he has to look for other means of earning money to cover his household’s needs.
“I expect to see less profit this year because of the dry period. We don’t know what’s to come,” he said. “It is very painful.”
open image in galleryTheir stories come against a wider backdrop of Fintea seeing a drop in the amount of tea it sells on Fairtrade terms from around 5 per cent five years ago to less than 1 per cent today.
This means its farming cooperatives receive less money from “premium payments”, which they can use to invest in climate resilience measures or social impact projects.
Supermarket Lidl last week announced it would be sourcing more tea from Fintea on Fairtrade terms and pay additional money to boost farmers’ incomes, for a new tea called “Way To Go!”, which will hit shelves on Tuesday.
Fintea said the commitment means the percentage of tea it sells on Fairtrade terms may increase to around 2.6 per cent in the coming years.
But Fairtrade is urging more businesses to source tea on Fairtrade terms as the organisation marks the start of its annual “Fairtrade Fortnight” campaign on Monday.
Kerrina Thorogood, partnerships director at the Fairtrade Foundation, said: “Today, just one in five tea farmers in Kenya earns enough income each month to support their families with the essentials.
“As a result, many struggle to invest in their farms, adapt to climate change, and plan for the future.
“Addressing this challenge requires businesses to take responsibility for the prices they pay.”
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