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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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Sustainable agriculture highly depends on the actions taken by the farmers and their ability to make a decision by using their knowledge and information efficiently. Therefore, farmers' perception needs to transfer from a technocratic approach to a social approach for promoting sustainable agriculture. This study was planned to analyze the tea growers' perception of sustainable agriculture in Rize Province. For this reason, a stratified sample of 138 tea farmers was contacted to get their perceptions about predefined sustainable farming practices. A total of 60 items were factor analyzed and ultimately 33 items in four main factors, namely, policy, social, environmental, and economic were identified to construct a sustainability perception index. Considering this index score, farmers' perceptions were divided into three groups including low, medium, and high-level perception. The explanatory variables were selected from the socioeconomic characteristics and communication behavior of farmers. The model results showed that education level, age, participation in farming events, watching television, and using the internet affected farmers' perception of sustainable farming in the region. Government should focus on policy-related issues like illegal tea entry, social factors like increasing the communication and socialization level among stakeholders, and environmental problems as a result of farm practices through arranging appropriate workshops.