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Tea leaves contain unsaturated fatty acids, key precursors of volatile compounds contributing to tea aroma quality. Tea is cultivated in areas with diverse environmental conditions. Nitrogenous fertilizers influence tea yields and quality. A previous single site study demonstrated that increasing nitrogenous fertilizer rates raised fatty acid levels. However it is not known if the magnitudes and patterns of the responses are replicated in different locations due to variations in growth factors. Nonetheless, there is a single fertilizer rate recommendation in all tea growing locations in Kenya. This study assessed possible variations in patterns and magnitudes of fatty acids in a single cultivar grown under similar nitrogenous fertilizer rates in different locations. Trials were conducted in five locations using clone BBK 35, receiving varying nitrogenous fertilizer rates. Fatty acids in two leaves and a bud were quantified as methyl esters. The levels varied (P≤ 0.05) with locations and increased (P≤ 0.05) with nitrogenous fertilizer rates. The rates of increase differed with locations leading to significant (P≤ 0.05) interaction effects. Thus, similar fertilizer rates in different locations result in different fatty acid levels, explaining differences in tea aroma quality from different locations even with the same agronomic inputs. The results demonstrate the need to develop region-specific agronomic inputs for the production of same tea quality.

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Credit is a major tool and an important factor for tea production and farm outcome. Its demand from different lending sources has been increasing to meet capital investment in the tea sector. Accessed credit is to meet costs of tea production, mainly fertilizers, seedlings, and labor as well. Factors affecting access to credit have been a subject of vast debate in recent studies that credit seekers obtain credits only when they are eligible by complying with the requirements set by lending institutions. However, literature has limited findings on the behavior of small-scale borrowers in selecting a credit source and inducing factors. In particular, borrowing arrangements necessitate the analysis to inform policy makers on needed adjustment in the lending system to improve tea production and sector development. The study aims at disclosing responsible factors to choose a particular credit source by smallholder tea farmers. A survey was conducted with 358 tea growers selected randomly in two cooperatives that operated in Nyaruguru District. A multivariate probit model was used for analytical analysis. Borrowing from formal source (commercial banks) increased if borrower possessed collateral asset (85.5%), interest rate (85.0%) size of tea plantation (24.8%) and household composition (10.5%). Using informal sources increased if a farmer desired a small credit (83.2%), participated in technical training (76.9%), and received joint credit (46.9%), while a farmer was likely to use less informal sources if his/her farm size (39.9%) and household income (29.2%) were small. However, combining sources of credit was used by farmers as a safeguard strategy to acquire the desired loan. A government policy, which aims to increase productive investment, should emphasize integrating agricultural loans in financial system targeting smallholder farmers through their organizations where they can relax credit constraints.