Building Resilience in East African Tea: Strategies for a Sustainable Future 

A steep fall in tea prices at the Mombasa auction, with Rwanda and Burundi teas among the hardest hit, has exposed deep vulnerabilities in the region’s tea economy. Resilience in East African Tea depends on the sector’s ability to adapt to climate stress, market volatility, and evolving sustainability standards. By integrating climate-smart farming, digital traceability, and data-driven supply chain management, tea producers can safeguard yields, ensure quality, and maintain global competitiveness. Technology enables better weather forecasting, soil health monitoring, and transparent sourcing, empowering both farmers and exporters to make informed, sustainable decisions. Strengthening resilience in East African tea is not just about survival – it’s about building a future-ready ecosystem that supports livelihoods, sustainability, and long-term market trust. 

The East African tea sector – long celebrated for its premium quality and contribution to rural livelihoods – is facing a defining moment. Fluctuating global demand, rising input costs, and shifting climate patterns have created a perfect storm, squeezing both farmer margins and national export earnings. 

Tea remains a cornerstone of rural employment and foreign exchange in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. Millions of smallholder farmers depend on it as a primary income source. Yet, the current price slump highlights an urgent need for resilience in East African tea – built on sustainable farming, digital traceability, and data-driven market intelligence. 

In short, the region’s tea story must shift from reactive survival to proactive adaptation, where technology and sustainability drive long-term competitiveness and climate resilience. 

Key Takeaways 

• The Mombasa Tea Auction is East Africa’s primary marketplace for bulk tea trade, where prices are set through competitive bidding.  

• While it ensures liquidity, heavy reliance on the auction system exposes smallholders, especially in Rwanda and Burundi, to volatile prices, high costs, and limited control over quality premiums.  

• These teas, often specialty-grade, struggle in the bulk auction model that rewards volume over value. 

• Building resilience in East Africa’s tea sector requires a shift from traditional dependency to data-driven, sustainable systems. The key building blocks include: 

• Climate-smart farm management to stabilize yields under changing weather. 

• Transparent procurement models to improve farmer income and fairness. 

• End-to-end traceability for quality assurance, certifications, and consumer trust. 

• Value addition and branding to capture higher market premiums. 

• Policy and ecosystem collaboration among governments, cooperatives, and agritech partners. 

• TraceX strengthens this transformation through digital traceability and sustainability platforms that connect every actor from farmer to exporter on one secure, transparent system.  

• With tools for digital farm management, blockchain traceability, and ESG monitoring, TraceX enables tea producers to enhance compliance, build resilience, and access premium global markets. 

• In short, resilience in East Africa’s tea sector is built on technology, transparency, and trust ensuring sustainability from leaf to cup.

What is the Mombasa tea auction? 

The Mombasa Tea Auction is a weekly auction center in Kenya, organized by the East Africa Tea Trade Association (EATTA), where lots of tea from multiple countries are cataloged, graded, and sold to the highest bidders It serves as a benchmark for East African tea pricing and is a critical node in regional and global trade. 

In April 2025, Kenya’s average tea auction price at Mombasa dropped to USD 2.09 per kg, down from USD 2.29 in April 2024. 

Because many farmers depend on auction revenues for their incomes, a price slump severely cuts their margins. Smallholders often lack access to storage, pre-financing, or alternative channels, making them particularly exposed. 

The mismatch between quality and demand means even well-grown teas struggle to fetch stable returns 

Auction systems aggregate many producers’ teas into lots and sell via brokers, which can dilute traceability and pricing control. 

Direct export contracts (private deals) often allow for better negotiation, premium pricing, and more control over quality, but also require compliance, assurance, and often more upfront risk. 
Part of the pressure on auctions is that buyers may bypass them in favor of direct sourcing when transparency, traceability, and quality can be better assured. 

Dive into our latest insights on traceability in the tea value chain — from smallholder farms to global markets. 

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Explore our expert blogs on climate resilience, fair pricing, and digital transformation shaping the future of tea. 

Want to Build a Sustainable Tea Supply Chain? 

Why are Rwandan and Burundian teas struggling? 

Teas from Rwanda and Burundi are struggling in 2025 due to three interconnected factors: heavy dependence on auctions, low farmer incomes reducing input use, and lack of market differentiation for small origins. 

Heavy Dependence on Auctions 

Both countries rely mainly on the Mombasa Tea Auction to sell their teas, making them exceptionally vulnerable to auction price volatility. Kenya’s removal of a price floor in 2025 led to a region-wide price crash and oversupply, causing unsold stocks and sharp drops in revenue for Rwandan and Burundian teas, regardless of their quality or specialty status. Buyers at auction are currently more selective, often rejecting teas from non-Kenyan origins, intensifying hardship for exporters from Rwanda and Burundi.  

Low Farmer Incomes and Reduced Input Use 

Smallholder farmers in Rwanda and Burundi are paid low prices for their fresh tea leaves, chained to global auctions and thus unable to invest in fertilizers, training, or better cultivation practices. As a result, yields and quality suffer. Several experts highlight that quality control and training programs exist, but are limited in reach, compounding the issue of poor leaf quality, which further undercuts sales potential at auction.  

Lack of Market Differentiation for Small Origins 

While teas from Rwanda and Burundi can be of premium quality, there’s little brand recognition or specialty marketing for their origin compared to larger producers like Kenya and Sri Lanka. They mostly sell into bulk or blended lots at auction, earning less for unique terroir or sustainability credentials. Without a strategy or marketing push for single-origin, specialty, or direct sales, they remain undifferentiated in a saturated market, limiting their ability to command higher prices or capture segments seeking exclusive, high-quality teas.  

In sum, over-reliance on volatile auction platforms, structurally low farmer incomes, and failure to differentiate nationally or globally have created sustained competitive and financial pain. Experts call for reforms in production systems, quality control, market access, and targeted branding to build resilience and future growth.

What are the building blocks of a Resilient Tea Sector in East Africa 

Farm Management for Productivity & Climate Resilience 

At the foundation of resilience lies strong farm management where technology and climate-smart practices help farmers adapt to changing conditions while maintaining yields and quality. 

• Digital crop diaries and soil health monitoring tools empower farmers to track nutrient levels, pest patterns, and input use in real time. 

• By integrating climate-smart practices such as mulching, shade-grown cultivation, or intercropping, farmers can protect soil fertility, reduce erosion, and stabilize production. 

• These digital insights also help farmers make data-driven decisions, ensuring consistent output even when global tea prices drop. 

In Kenya and Rwanda, initiatives promoting shade-grown tea and intercropping with legumes have improved soil resilience and diversified farmer incomes during low-price cycles. 

Procurement Solutions for Fairer Market Access 

Traditional auction systems often limit farmers’ pricing power. To build long-term resilience, East Africa’s tea sector must diversify market channels and create more equitable trade structures. 

• Moving beyond auction dependency opens opportunities for direct contracts, specialty tea exports, and certified sustainable trade (Fairtrade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance). 

• Transparent digital procurement systems ensure traceable transactions and fairer payments to smallholder farmers. 

• By connecting producers directly to global buyers, procurement digitization also reduces intermediaries, improves quality control, and increases revenue at the farm gate. 

Farmers gain stable prices, predictable demand, and stronger inclusion in global value chains. 

Traceability for Trust & Premium Pricing 

In a market driven by conscious consumers, traceability has become the currency of trust. 

• Blockchain-enabled traceability platforms allow every batch of tea to be linked to verified farms, ensuring proof of origin, authenticity, and sustainability practices. 

• This transparency supports certification compliance (Fairtrade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance), simplifying audits and boosting brand reputation. 

• For buyers, it reduces risk; for producers, it opens access to premium-priced markets that reward ethical sourcing and sustainability performance. 

 A “from field to cup” QR code can let consumers trace tea back to its origin  reinforcing brand trust and driving loyalty. 

Value Addition & Branding: Beyond Commodity Tea 

To escape the low-margin trap of bulk exports, East Africa’s tea producers must invest in value addition and storytelling. 

• Processing, blending, and packaging innovations can help retain more value within producing countries. 

• Linking traceability data to origin marketing (“From Rwanda to Your Cup”) turns supply chain transparency into a compelling consumer story. 

• Strong branding and certification claims backed by verifiable data allow African tea brands to compete in premium global markets. 

How can African tea brands get higher prices? 

By investing in traceability, sustainable practices, and brand differentiation, proving quality and authenticity in every package. 

Policy & Ecosystem Support 

No resilience strategy succeeds in isolation. The enabling ecosystem — from government frameworks to cooperative networks must align around digital transformation and sustainability. 

• Governments can drive change through targeted subsidies, climate insurance schemes, and digital infrastructure for farmer data management. 

• Cooperatives and NGOs play a critical role in capacity building, farmer training, and the adoption of traceability and sustainability tools. 

• Public-private partnerships with agri-tech platforms (like TraceX and others) can integrate technology into national tea value chains, supporting compliance, transparency, and export competitiveness. 

A coordinated ecosystem where policy, technology, and producer empowerment reinforce each other, creating a future-ready, resilient East African tea industry that thrives despite volatility.

How TraceX Drives Resilience in East Africa’s Tea Sector 

The tea industry in East Africa, spanning Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, is facing mounting challenges: falling auction prices, climate volatility, and rising sustainability compliance demands. Resilience in this context means enabling farmers, cooperatives, and exporters to adapt, diversify, and thrive despite uncertainty. 
This is where TraceX’s Sustainable Sourcing platform is transforming the game. 

Digital Farm Management for Climate-Smart Productivity 

TraceX enables tea producers and farmer cooperatives to digitize their entire farm management ecosystem. 

• Digital crop diaries capture sowing, input use, and harvest data in real time. 

• Geo-mapped farms help monitor land use, soil health, and climate risks. 

• Data analytics provide actionable insights to optimize fertilizer use, pest control, and water management. 
  By promoting climate-smart and regenerative farming practices, TraceX strengthens productivity and environmental resilience at the grassroots level. 

Transparent Procurement and Fair Payments 

One major weakness in East Africa’s tea economy lies in opaque, auction-dominated pricing systems. 
TraceX helps break this dependency by digitizing procurement – enabling direct trade, smart contracts, and transparent transactions between farmer groups and buyers. 

• Buyers gain verified data on quality, origin, and certification. 

• Farmers receive fairer, faster payments and visibility into pricing structures. 
  This transparency builds economic resilience and reduces vulnerability to market shocks. 

End-to-End Traceability for Compliance and Trust 

TraceX’s blockchain-powered traceability platform links every batch of tea to its farm origin and farmer group – creating a digital chain of custody across production, aggregation, and export. 

• Each step (plucking, processing, packaging) is recorded and time-stamped. 

• The data support Fairtrade, Organic, and Rainforest Alliance certifications. 

• Buyers and auditors can scan QR-enabled reports to verify sourcing, quality, and sustainability claims. 
  This verifiable transparency enhances buyer trust, reduces audit costs, and helps exporters maintain access to high-value global markets. 

Sustainability Monitoring and ESG Reporting 

TraceX goes beyond traceability by integrating sustainability dashboards that track environmental and social metrics across the tea value chain. 

• Measure carbon footprint, water use, biodiversity actions, and labor compliance. 

• Generate real-time sustainability and ESG reports aligned with global standards. 
  This helps tea companies not only meet compliance but communicate impact credibly to buyers, investors, and regulators — turning sustainability into a growth enabler. 

Building Systemic Resilience Through Data and Collaboration 

By connecting every stakeholder farmers, cooperatives, exporters, certifiers, and policymakers on one digital ecosystem, TraceX strengthens collective resilience. 

• Governments gain visibility into production and export data. 

• Cooperatives can benchmark performance across farmer groups. 

• Exporters can make informed sourcing decisions backed by verified data. 
  Ultimately, this shared transparency creates an adaptive, future-ready tea sector capable of withstanding both economic and environmental disruption. 

TraceX empowers East Africa’s tea industry to evolve from reactive to resilient. 

By combining digital traceability, transparent procurement, and sustainability intelligence, the platform turns data into resilience – improving livelihoods, protecting the environment, and securing long-term market competitiveness. 

Brewing a Resilient Future for East Africa’s Tea Sector 

The future of East Africa’s tea industry depends on how effectively it adapts to climate, market, and compliance challenges. Digital traceability and sustainability platforms like TraceX are redefining resilience – from the soil to the supply chain – by enabling transparency, data-driven decisions, and equitable trade. By embracing technology, empowering farmers, and aligning with global sustainability goals, East Africa’s tea sector can move beyond price volatility toward a future that’s profitable, ethical, and climate-smart. The path forward is clear – traceability is not just about tracking tea; it’s about transforming the system. 

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