Africans get advanced training

Experts from many countries are invited to Zhangzhou college in Fujian to hone skills in production, marketing and other specialties

Those who work in the tea business in Africa say they are benefiting immensely from training offered in China.

Experts from producing countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt are trooping to Zhangzhou College of Science and Technology in Fujian province for 21-day advanced courses in tea processing and marketing.

According to the college, there have been 201 Africans from 18 countries since 2009 - including 28 Kenyans - who have attended the courses. Last year, 13 out of the total of 28 Africans were from Kenya.

The institution, the first in the world offering tea programs, has five subjects: tea production and processing techniques, marketing, food processing, tea culture and tourism management.

Zhangzhou College is not only spreading the rich Chinese tea culture but also improving the chances for African tea to earn more money through product diversification.

"China is way ahead," says 27-year-old Marvin Karimi, the factory manager at Njeru Industries Ltd, a tea processing company based in Meru, Kenya.

The manager returned in November after attending a class of 24 students who included fellow Africans and students from Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Karimi has worked in the family-owned tea factory for about four years. In 2011, Njeru Industries joined with Fujian Flamingo to process and sell oolong tea (a whole leaf tea dried and then curled or stripped) in China. It is among four factories licensed to process purple tea in Kenya.

"I, however, never expected to witness the intensive investment that the Chinese government has made in its domestic tea sector," he says.

Farms have been expanded. Chinese tea exports have outstripped domestic consumption, which has cooled off due to alternative beverages popular with the younger generation.

The tea sector has diversified to target different market segments. For the younger generation, products such as tea rice, cakes, wine, sweets, yogurt, ice cream and biscuits are made to appeal to their tastes.

"Specialty tea is for the high-end market as global consumers become avid and knowledgeable tea drinkers," says Willy Mutai, technical service officer for the East of Rift Region of the Tea Directorate in Kenya. The agency is the sector's regulator. He is one of the few who has been able to attend the training sessions twice.

In the class he attended in 2012, the emphasis was on value addition done in factories. Lessons underscored fair trade and the need for manufacturers to have certificates of origin. Improving the quality of the leaves and manufacturing process results in higher prices, especially in European markets, instructors emphasized.

Again in May 2015, he was among a class of 23 that gained comprehensive knowledge and skills in the tea production value chain, he says.

During training, learners get a sense of the expansive growth of the tea cottage industry in China, which is a concept still nascent in Africa. The cottage industry has given rise to over 7,000 factories, most of them producing and packaging tea and selling directly to the retail market.

Mutai says the Kenyan state's Tea Directorate is promoting the development of the cottage industry in Kenya. "These are the avenues for growth of the tea manufacturing sector. We attach importance to specialty tea that fetches more money in the global market," he says.

Mutai says the directorate has licensed four processing facilities. Research at the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya is targeting product diversification. Focus is on purple tea, which is relatively new in the global market and presents better prospects for developing new products that could quickly gain new market share. "Moreover, Kenya is quickly cutting a niche in flavored tea that is already popular in the domestic market," he says.

Mutai advises farmers who want to install machines for specialty teas, recommending those that are simple and effective. He also guides them in developing marketing strategies that will improve their product positioning in different market segments.

"Packaging is an important tool in branding and so we are urging factories to be innovative. This will improve product visibility and promote attributes that buyers attach value to," Mutai says.

Another learner who came back in September says the training was an eye-opener. Emily Kileo, a food scientist and lecturer at Karatina University in Kenya, believes Kenya needs strategic marketing strategies to consolidate and diversify its global market share.

The lecturer, who is doing her doctorate at the Research Foundation of Kenya, will be among the first lecturers launching specialized tea programs at the university.

She says there is a growing trend towards consumption of orthodox tea - which is processed by hand or using machinery that mimics hand-rolling - especially in Western countries and this presents new opportunities for Kenya.

Aside from diversification, "packaging and marketing are equally critical," she says.

She says it will take time to implement Chinese-style reforms locally. "The market is not ready. It needs gradual introduction and awareness campaigns targeting all stakeholders."

Kileo says reforms would boost the country's exports, improving farmers' earnings. The traditional method of picking two leaves and a bud by hand are will stymie expansion initiatives, she says.

"Older leaves can still be used for blending to increase quantity or maybe as ingredients for other products such as tea soup. Oil can be extracted from tea and this is an additive that is premium in the cosmetics industry.

"I think we are lethargic. As population grows so does consumption. Tea marketing can improve our manufacturing and tourism sector," she says.

Zhangzhou college, previously known as Tenfu Tea College, is renowned as the world's first private vocational college to specialize in the study of the tea industry. It is closely associated with Tenfu Tea Group, which gave it $27.4 million in 2007. The company is the largest producer in Fujian and owns over 1,000 chain stores all over China. The institution was later upgraded to an institution of higher learning.

lucymorangi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 03/04/2016 page9)