"We hope the rains which have just come continue," Cheruiyot said that the main tea growing rural town of Kericho. "The fear is hail. After a dry spell you will always get hail." Hurt largely by drought, Kenya produced 248 million kgs of tea last year compared to 294 million kgs in 1998.

The tea association, which represents big plantations, estimates last month's frost has damaged about 35 per cent of its tea growing area. More than 18,500 workers have been sent home, although Cheruiyot said most of them would be recalled if the situation improved. KTGA employs around 100,000 people and its production accounted for 42 per cent of the country's total tea output last year.

During a tour of the region by a Reuters correspondent, the impact of the drought and the frost was clearly visible.

Just a few dozen workers remained in the estates to pluck tea for limited hours while most factory machines lay idle. The vast tea fields, usually a lush green, were scarred with frequent patches of dry brown bushes due to pruning done to avoid further evaporation. "When things are normal we work for ten hours. Today we can only do six hours," said one worker.

Small scale growers have also suffered due to recent dry spells, which they tribute to the depletion of nearby forests. Joel Siele said almost 90 percent of his four acre farm had been damaged by frost.

"I have never seen anything like this before," he said. "I hope the rains will help," he said as he supervised members of his family pruning tea bushes.

Siele said that his firm was plucking only 10 kilos of green leaf per day compared to an normal average of 150 kilos per day at this time of year.