Selective Harvesting
AI-enabled systems designed to improve consistency and harvesting quality.
AI & Innovation
AI-enabled tea harvesting for efficiency, traceability and accountability.
Why This Matters
Kericho is central to Kenya’s tea economy, yet tea harvesting faces labour inefficiencies, inconsistent quality, limited traceability and unaccounted leaf-volume losses. AI-enabled harvesting offers a chance to modernize the sector while improving productivity and transparency.
Pilot Objective
To pilot and validate AI-enabled tea harvesting technologies in real plantation environments in Kenya, beginning with Kericho.
Proposed Phases
Phase 1: Technology Partnership & Adaptation
Engage international developers, adapt systems to local terrain and tea varieties, and conduct controlled trials.
Phase 2: Pilot Deployment
Deploy systems with selected estates, monitor performance in real time and benchmark against conventional harvesting.
Phase 3: Evaluation & Scale Strategy
Assess productivity and cost efficiency, document lessons, refine systems and prepare a scale-up roadmap.
Data & Analytics
Yield tracking, traceability records and decision-support data for farm management.
Local Capacity Building
Technical training and support for local operators, estate teams and partner institutions.
Global-Local Collaboration
A platform for technology developers, tea estates, researchers and investors to co-develop solutions.