Context
Climate change is affecting food and agriculture sectors, particularly in developing countries. Agriculture, forestry and other land uses are major sources of greenhouse gases. Yet they also have the potential to significantly mitigate climate change by reducing emissions and enhancing carbon sequestration, as well as to address cli-mate adaptation needs at the same time.
Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) is the most consumed beverage in the world and a crop particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. It is thought to have originated in China, which is the largest producer of tea globally. Kenya is the world’s current third largest producer of tea and a leading exporter, with around 269,430 ha of cultivated area, over 458,853 metric tonnes of black tea and over 496,754 metric tonnes exported. The tea sector in Kenya supports the livelihoods of about 5 million Kenyans.
Objective
The project aims at realizing a more productive, efficient and low-carbon tea value chain and creating an enabling environment for its development (outcomes). The expected impact is a resilient low-carbon tea sector contributing to achieving Kenya’s climate action goals. Kenya’s tea value chain is strengthened with the objective to support rural livelihoods and contribute to climate action.
Partners
The Government of Kenya is joining forces with its partners to implement its national climate change strategies and policies in order to meet the climate change mitigation commitments and achieve higher incomes for farmers and workers in the tea value chain. For this project, Kenya chose to partner with China, Germany and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as international coordinator of this joint project.
China is the world’s largest tea producer, committed to climate-friendly agricultural development, possessing technological expertise and practice research on low-carbon tea production, willing to foster technology and experience transfer to other countries.
Germany and Kenya have been development partners since 1975, with agriculture being a priority cooperation area. Capacity development approaches are used to increase productivity and incomes, to facilitate climate adaptation as well as to improve energy efficiency and climate change mitigation in agriculture.
As the specialized agency of the United Nations with a focus on agriculture and sustainable food supply, FAO plays a leading role in multi-country initiatives and in providing policy guidance for the transformation towards a low carbon agricultural sector. FAO is entrusted by China to facilitate its agricultural South-South-cooperation through a specialized fund and has established a representation in Kenya in 1977.
The joint project combines FAO’s global low-carbon tea initiative with a concrete triangular cooperation project between Kenya, China and Germany. It brings together existing cooperation elements in a triangular setting, combining comparative advantages, pooling resources and competencies. The Sino-German Center for Sustainable Development facilitates the collaboration.
Political partners of the project are:
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives of the Republic of Kenya
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany
Implementing partners are:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Contact: Dr. Barrack Okoba Barrack.Okoba@fao.org
Foreign Economic Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China
Contact: Mr. Wang Geng wanggeng@agri.gov.cn
Dr. Yu Haomiao yuhaomiao@agri.gov.cn
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Tea Research Institute
Contact: Prof. Han Wenyan hanwy@tricaas.com
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture
Contact: Prof. Xu Yinlong xuyinlong@caas.cn
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Contact: Ms. Lucie Pia Pluschke lucie.pluschke@giz.de
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization
Tea Research Institute
Contact: Dr. Samson Machohi Kamunya samson.kamunya@kalro.org
Kenyan Tea Development Agency (KTDA)
Contact: Mr. Sudi Biko Matara SMatara@ktdateas.com
Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP)
Contact: Ms. Rachel Cracknell Rachel.Cracknell@ethicalteapartnership.org
Approach
The project approach comprises of the following elements:
Towards a more productive, efficient and low-carbon tea value chain.
In a first step, the project team will set up a system to monitor greenhouse gas emissions in Kenya’s tea value chain and collect baseline data. Applied research is carried out in Kenya and China to assess which low-carbon technologies and practices can be adopted at the production and processing stages in the tea value chain.
A broad capacity development strategy will be developed in a participatory manner and rolled out along with appropriate technology packages.
Field testing of low carbon tea technologies and practices will be conducted, monitored and evaluated. Lessons learned from field testing will be discussed in a multi-stakeholder setting.
Creating a more conducive environment for a low-carbon tea value chain.
The project team will assess the most suitable measures to promote low-carbon tea development. A focus will be placed on incentive measures for farmers, factories and buyers of tea, while assessing the potential for low-carbon and carbon-neutral tea certification in Kenya.
Experience and knowledge exchange among all partners and with other tea producing countries will be conducted. A toolbox comprising all knowledge products developed in the project will be made available and disseminated at the national, regional and international level.
For more information, please contact: Ms. Annette Juma annette.juma@giz.de
