Around ten tea-plucking machines worth $1.2 million have been destroyed in the past year in attacks on Ekaterea Tea Company.

A government task force has proposed a human-machine tea-picking ratio of 60:40 and a reduction in the number of imported tea-harvesting machines.

The automation of tea harvesting increases the global competitiveness of Kenya’s tea and helps reduce the cost of production. Analysts say the recent opposition to mechanization will not stop the adoption of machines where necessary.

In Kericho county of Kenya, tea pickers are engaging in a massive protest over the automation of agribusiness and other challenges faced by workers.

According to a local report, around ten tea-plucking machines worth around $ 1.2 million have been torched belonging to Ekaterina Tea Company (formerly Unilever)- producers of Lipton over the last year in different attacks.