Kenya's Tea Business Declines As Climate Changes

JAKARTA - Climate change is becoming the new enemy of the tea business in Kenya. Declining tea production and deteriorating quality have brought huge losses for Kenyan tea growers. This is due to rising temperatures, insect invasions, and erratic rainfall due to climate change.

Visiting CNA on Monday, May 10, a report from the charity Christian Aid outlined the various threats of change facing Kenya, as well as its effect on the black tea plant. Moreover, the report also comes with the possible dangers that other countries face if the planet continues to heat up.

The report said climate change would pose a fourfold threat to Kenyan tea farmers. The threats include rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, drought and the emergence of new insects that are expected to destroy 26.2 percent of the country's tea cultivation area by 2050.

"For generations we have cultivated our tea plantations carefully and we are proud that the tea we grow here is the best in the world," said Richard Koskei, a tea farmer from kenya's western highlands.

"But climate change is a real threat to us. We can't predict the season anymore, temperatures rise, and rainfall is more erratic," he added.

The head of Christian Aid's Africa division, Karimi Kinoti, said tea was just another example of the impact of climate change. Because, climate change will have an impact on many things. In fact, Africa itself is counted on the world map is not the country most responsible for the climate crisis.

"Africans make up 17 percent of the world's population but we only produce four percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the climate crisis," he said. "But we are the ones who suffer the most from the effects of climate change."