[ti:Kenyan Farmers Turn to Purple Tea for a Higher Return] [ar:Caty Weaver] [al:Agriculture Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report. [00:05.99]Tea farmers in Kenya are suffering [00:09.52]because of low prices for their crop this year. [00:13.45]So they have exchanged their tea bushes [00:18.13]for a healthy new purple tea [00:21.02]that they hope will sell for a higher price. [00:24.86]But there may not be a demand for the new kind of tea. [00:29.70]Agricultural workers in green tea fields near Mt. Kenya [00:38.07]are gathering the tea leaves. [00:40.31]It is beautiful to see. [00:42.70]The rows of tea bushes are straight. [00:45.88]All appears to be well. [00:48.02]But the farmers who planted the bushes are worried. [00:52.05]Nelson Kibara is one of them. [00:55.64]He has been growing tea in the Kerugoya area for 40 years. [01:00.37]He says the prices this year [01:07.40]have been so low that he has made almost no profit. [01:11.84]He says he must grow different kinds of tea [01:15.62]if he is to survive. [01:17.54]Mr. Kibara and hundreds of other farmers [01:21.52]have been removing some of their tea bushes [01:24.72]and planting a new kind of tea [01:27.41]developed by the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya. [01:31.59]Its leaves are purple and brown. [01:34.39]When the tea is boiled the drink has a purple color. [01:38.67]Medical researchers have studied [01:41.91]the health benefits of the new tea. [01:44.49]They say it is healthier than black tea [01:48.19]and could be sold for a price [01:50.68]that is three to four times higher [01:53.50]than the price of black tea. [01:55.70]But Mr. Kibara says he has not received a higher price [02:00.23]for his purple tea crop. [02:02.28]He says the market for the tea is unstable. [02:08.81]And he is often forced to sell his purple tea [02:12.44]for the same price as green tea leaves. [02:15.49]He says there are not enough buyers [02:18.28]willing to pay more for the purple tea than black tea. [02:22.17]The Kenya Tea Development Agency(KTDA) represents small farmers. [02:28.35]It says farmers have planted purple tea [02:31.88]before a market has been created for it. [02:35.22]Vincent Mwingirwa works at the agency. [02:39.15]"What has happened is that purple tea [02:42.79]has been developed for the farm. [02:44.23]Unfortunately, there was not concurrent research [02:47.62]on the market for purple tea. [02:49.31]So we are now in a scenario [02:51.50]where some of our farmers have planted purple tea, [02:54.04]but they do not know where to take it," said Mwingirwa. [02:56.88]Stephen Mutembei works at the Tea Research Foundation. [03:01.71]He says farmers quickly changed from growing black tea [03:06.34]to growing purple tea. [03:08.18]But he also blames tea leaf processors [03:12.26]for not making changes more quickly. [03:15.45]But Mr. Mutembei says purple tea is an important crop [03:20.17]for the country and its tea farmers. [03:23.02]He says Kenya needs to find new products like purple tea [03:27.65]to help its tea industry become more stable. [03:31.49]Tea is the country's top crop. [03:34.78]Mr. Mutembei says the country's economy [03:38.51]is too closely linked to the changing price of black tea. [03:43.33]He says tea buyers and drinkers must be persuaded [03:48.36]that they should pay more for purple tea than black tea. [03:52.25]And that's the VOA Learning English Agriculture Report. [03:56.98]I'm Caty Weaver.