Information framework for small scale tea farmers using cellular technology. A case study of ICTs in the tea industry in Western region of Kenya

Abstract

Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) is a management agency for small scale farmers. It is responsible of the management of smallholder tea through provision of extension services, production inputs, green leaf collection, processing and marketing of processed tea on behalf of the smallholders. KTDA Ltd. currently manages 53 tea factories in the smallholder sub-sector serving over 400,000 growers. It has been observed in many years that farmers complain of poor service especially in communication and information flow between farmers and factory management who are representatives of KTDA. The purpose of this study is to design ICT based communication architecture for tea delivery and processing of Payments using cellular technology. The methodology of the study focuses on analyzing the system delivery of the KTDA and the impacts of the services on tea production. The method used to gather secondary and primary data was through document review, interviews, observation and questionnaires The main finding of the study is that tea collection records are manually entered in farmers' cards and on tea buying clerk record book. There is no proper coordination of transport management especially during tea collection that leads to uncollected tea at tea buying centres. The key contribution of the study was to design a framework to solve farmers' issues relating to the communication breakdown in the delivery and processing of tea products.