Nairobi, April 16 -- Tea farmers are facing a decline in earnings this year as prices of the beverage tumble at the weekly Mombasa auction, worsened by the growing volume of the produce rejected on quality concerns.

The sufficient rains received by the country starting in October last year have helped tea yields rise significantly, with the volume of Kenyan tea presented to the auction jumping to 145.5 million kilogrammes between January and April.

This is an increase of 20.7 percent compared to 120.53 million kilogrammes that were presented to the auction during the same period last year, even as tea production is expected to rise further in the coming months due to the ongoing rains.

However, prices of the beverage have slowed down d...