MOMBASSA, Sept 26: Kenya must mechanise tea picking for the industry to survive spiralling production costs and diversify into products such as green tea that are attracting more demand worldwide, exporters said on Tuesday.

Some large tea producers have been experimenting with hand-operated plucking machines, drawing fire from labour unions that say mechanisation would lead to the loss of 80,000 jobs.

But some industry players argue that change would reduce costs.

“You can't stop technology,” Peter Kimanga, the tea manager at leading traders Global Tea & Commodities, told Reuters.

The ministry of agriculture estimates that it costs growers $1.2 to produce a kilo of made tea, with labour and welfare accounting for 60pc of the total cost.—Reuters