Igara Growers Tea Factory Limited (Igara) is a small holder tea Factory located in the South Western part of Uganda in Kyamuhunga Sub-county, Igara West, Bushenyi District. It was established in 1969 as part of the governments’ effort to reduce poverty in the 1960’s. Government by an act of Parliament established Uganda Tea Growers Corporation (UTGC) in 1966 to take care of the interests of smallholder tea farmers in Uganda and as their green leaf production increased UTGC put up Igara as one of the four smallholder tea factories in Uganda to process leaf obtained from Bushenyi district. During the 1970’s political instability led to a decline in the entire tea industry and this almost brought Igara to a close as the factory was deprived of all essential inputs required to run it and vast amounts of tea fields were abandoned. In 1989, a European Union funded ten-year tea rehabilitation project in the small holder tea sub sector started. The project covered the rehabilitation of farmers’ gardens as well as the processing factories. As part of governments’ overall divestiture programme, Igara and indeed the other three smallholder tea factories of Mabale, Mpanga, and Kayonza growers were privatized and sold to the smallholder tea farmers in the respective areas. The process started in 1995 and was completed in 2000 when full small holder ownership was attained.
Today there are over 5500 active farmers supplying Igara with green leaf of which about 20% are women. Igara also owns about 220 hectares of tea estates that supply between 5-7% of the green leaf annually. Out of that total number of 5500 farmers, 3454 are shareholders of the company and their acquisition of shares was achieved through deductions from their pay for green leaf delivered to the factory every month. Most of the tea is being grown in areas of over 5,400 feet above sea level. Rainfall averages 1500mm of rainfall per year, which is quite suitable for tea growing but split into wet and dry seasons.
The company is managed by an elected seven member Board of Directors who hire the management services of Uganda Tea Development Agency Limited (UTDAL) – a subsidiary company owned by the two small holder factories of Igara and Kayonza Growers Tea Factory. The Management Agency is wholly responsible for all aspects of management (strategic planning, production, transport, marketing /sales, finance and personnel in the two factories of Igara and Kayonza in Kanungu District, South Western Uganda. It has its own Board of five that is accountable to the Igara and Kayonza Boards. It employs competent, experienced and well trained managers who are both based at the Head Offices in Kampala and posted to the factories to manage the day to day operations of the factories.
Vision
To be the leading tea producer in Uganda and beyond
Mission
To produce high quantities and quality of black tea in order to realize high profits for the benefit of all its stakeholders in an effective, efficient and sustainable manner
Core Values
- Service excellence
We value our stakeholders and strive to exceed their expectations through excellent service delivery.
- Quality
We are what we are because of quality and a commitment to quality is a value that expresses itself strongly among all stakeholders. We will strive to uphold this as a key ingredient to the success of the company.
- Competitiveness
We are committed to engaging in practices that ensure competitiveness in a global setting
- Teamwork
In order to meet our goals, we practice teamwork to optimize the synergies of individual and collective human resource talent and capacity.
- Efficiency
With a highly motivated and competitively remunerated staff, we ensure the optimum utilization of resources at our disposal to deliver quality and timely goods and services to all stakeholders.
- Integrity
We uphold virtues of integrity through honesty, confidentiality and fairness in discharging our responsibilities.
- Accountability
We endeavor to manage the resources entrusted to us in a professional and transparent manner.
- Social responsibility
We endeavor to be socially responsible to our stakeholders and society at large and pursue our goals through socially acceptable practices that preserve the environment, promote socio-economic development and add value to the society
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