Kenya is priveleged to host the 22nd Session of the Food & Agricultural Organization-Inter-Governmental Group on Tea Conference on May 25-27, 2016 which will take place at the Enashipai Resort & Spa in Naivasha, Nakuru County.
The Conference is held every two years. Kenya was recommended to host the 22nd Session of the FAO-IGG during the last meeting held in Bandung, Indonesia in 2014 in recognition of her leading contribution to both the African and global tea industry.
Kenya is the third leading tea producer in the world, accounting for 11% of the global production and leading exporter of black Tea contributing 22% of the global exports.
The FAO-IGG on tea represents a forum for Inter-Governmental consultation and exchange on trends in production, consumption, trade and prices of tea, including regular appraisal of the global market situation and short terms outlook.
The Group also considers changes in national policies and examines their international effects on the current and prospective tea market situation.
About 120 delegates from Bangladesh, Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malawi, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Kingdom, Tanzania, USA and Vietnam are expected to attend.
As a precursor to the 22nd session FAO-IGG on tea conference, Kenya will host the 1st African Tea Science Symposium and Exhibition on 23rd to 24th May 2016 at the same venue a forum that will bring together over 300 delegates from 10 African countries.
Briefing the mass media and the public on the two meetings during a breakfast meeting in a Nairobi hotel on May 15, 2016, Agriculture, Livestock & Fisheries Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett challenged Kenyans to take more tea as a way of creating market for the commodity.
Despite Kenya being the 3rd leading tea producing country in the world, the CS regretted that only 3 per cent of the tea produced in Kenya is consumed locally, the rest being exported.
The briefing was attended by the Malawi ambassador to Kenya Perks Ligoya, FAO Kenya Representative Robert Allport and Agriculture, Food and Fish Authority (AFFA) interim director-general Alfred Busolo. Malawi is the vice chair of the 22nd FAO-IGG Session.
