Case study: Healthy Diets programme in Kenya

Hear tea plucker Nancy Chipkorir Korgoren's story.

Tea plucker Nancy Chipkorir Korgoren's story

Nancy Chipkorir Korgoren, 50 years old, often speaks with her hands.

“When I do a full day’s work starting 6am, I pluck between 45 and 46 kilos,” she says, her hands mimicking plucking motion in quick time. “The payment rate is Ksh.9 (0.074 euros) per kilo of tealeaf plucked.”

“So, I would like to say a big thank you to the Project for the training because it has taught us what type of food to take in the morning so you have strength,” Nancy says, clenching an upturned palm into a half-fist, then weighing the air. “You have to be ready to go-go-go when you’re off to pluck.”

“I would like to say a big thank you to the Project for the training because it has taught us what type of food to take in the morning so you have strength.”

The “Project” that Nancy refers to is the Healthy Diets for Tea Communities Programme.

An initiative of the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) that, together with the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) Foundation, is working to improve the diets of over 26,000 tea workers, farmers and their families in Kenya.

The programme is working to improve the diets of over 26,000 tea workers, farmers and their families in Kenya.

The programme is co-funded by Unilever, Taylors of Harrogate, the Republic of Tea, Bigelow, Reginald Ames, JDE, Wollenhaupt and Ringtons.

Kenya is the world's top black tea exporter with about 23 percent of global market. And Kericho County, where Nancy lives, is one of the leading tea-producing counties in Kenya.

Hidden hunger

The verdant hills of Kericho are blanketed with green tea. They also, however, cloak a hidden hunger.

A National Demographic Survey by the Kenya Government found that despite being one of the most agriculturally endowed counties in the country, Kericho had a malnutrition rate of 28 per cent, which was above the national average of 26 per cent. It also had worrying levels of stunting and wasting.

Further studies by ETP and GAIN revealed that many households in Kericho solely farm tea. They leave no farmland for vegetables. And when they prepare vegetables, they cook them for over 30 minutes, robbing them of most nutrients.

“I usually cook for five people: my three grandchildren, my elderly mother-in-law and myself... The Project has taught us the value of building your body.” 

Overcooked

“The Project has taught us the value of building your body,” says Nancy.

“They taught us that to prepare saga (Spider Flower), they only need 15 minutes, and sukuma (Collard Greens) five!”

Through Nancy, the project is starting to impact the lives of Nancy’s family and community.

“I usually cook for five people: my three grandchildren, my elderly mother-in-law and myself,” she says. “I cook vegetables like saga and I serve the way we were taught: lots of vegetables with a small portion of ugali (stiff porridge made from maize flour). We’ve all come to love it!”

Most of her family’s greens come from Nancy’s kitchen garden which the project trained her on, and provided her seeds and cuttings for. “When I have surplus vegetables, I sell them at the market and earn something,” Nancy adds.

Most of her family’s greens come from Nancy’s kitchen garden which the project trained her on, and provided her seeds and cuttings for.

She also invited her Church women's group to her kitchen garden.

“I showed them how to plant saga and robwonik (orange-fleshed sweet potato, which ETP is promoting),” she recalls. “Since the visit, three mamas have planted robwonik.”

“Robwonik and tea?” Her hands give out a quick clap. “Now that is tasty!”

Click here to read our 2022 Annual report, and read more about our work in Kenya here.

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