Kenya promotes speciality teas to boost earnings for farmers

By Duncan Miriri
MERU, Kenya (Reuters) – Kenya is relaxing some of its tea industry rules to encourage production of new varieties in an effort to boost earnings for farmers of the crop, which is now one of the country’s top hard currency earners.
The East African nation is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, but oversupply and variable weather conditions often lead to global price fluctuations, encouraging diversification into niche varieties such as purple and white t