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{
"id": 1463592,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463592/?format=api",
"text_counter": 505,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Matungu ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Peter Nabulindo",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The sugarcane industry was the backbone of the economy for the people of western Kenya. That is our economy. We did everything from sugarcane farming and, thus, the nostalgic memories about that. Most of us are here because of the sugarcane industry. I schooled because my grandmother and grandfather were able to pay my school fees through sugarcane farming. That is not possible now as there is a big problem. Most farmers have uprooted their sugarcane. This has happened since there is no profits from its farming. We, the leaders, are going to fight for the welfare of the farmers. We have established factories in place. If someone is suggesting that we should stop sugarcane farming and do something else, what are we going to do with those factories like Mumias, Nzoia, Miwani and Sony? If we stop sugarcane farming, where do we take all those facilities? What do we with them? We are going to look for ways and means to ensure that sugarcane farming is profitable to those who used to profit from it."
},
{
"id": 1463593,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463593/?format=api",
"text_counter": 506,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Matungu ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Peter Nabulindo",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The collapse of the sugar industry in the western region led to numerous problems that, at times, we cannot speak about. The families that depended on those activities dived directly into abject poverty. They have never been able to rise from it. Most families have now resorted to selling that land because that is the only thing they have. That land can no longer be productive. If they want to educate their children, they partition the land and sell it year after year. Eventually, families do not have the land anymore. The little that is there can be utilised. We cannot bank on the tracts of land that used to be there, as they are no longer there. Due to the increased population too, families have divided the land. Therefore, the Government needs to put an elaborate framework in place to ensure that we have enough land for sugarcane production. That can only happen if we engage the communities that used to farm. Let us do it positively to try and make land that is supposed to be used for sugarcane farming is available. We also need to set up a research centre on sugarcane farming, production, marketing and anything that concerns it. We have such institutions in place, but their findings do not get to the farmers. The farmers are still in a cocoon. He does not understand what he is supposed to do next. It is very difficult for us to expect the farmer to produce sugarcane the way they used to and yet, there is no funding of any sort. Right now, all the sugarcane farmers are not empowered at all. They are poor. Where do they get the capital to even buy fertiliser, prepare land, harvest and transport the cane to the factories? Those are very expensive activities that when we leave them to the farmers, we are technically telling them to stop farming. If we do not support the farmers, we are condemning them to poverty for life. The purpose of this Motion is to finally look at the farmers. In the equation of sugarcane industry revival, where are the farmers? That is the question that has been disturbing the minds of very many leaders in the western region. We need to put a framework in place so that we can look at the farmers with a critical eye and with the intent of empowering them to produce good quality sugarcane that will enable the millers to stand. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1463594,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463594/?format=api",
"text_counter": 507,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Matungu ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Peter Nabulindo",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Lastly, even as we struggle to revive the sugarcane industry, if we do not look at issues that lead to poor management by the millers, we shall not succeed. The policies of the Government are also not helping farmers. For example, according to me, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Protocol is responsible for bringing down the sugarcane industry. Once we allow cheap imports to come into the country and compete with our high-quality sugar, then the market forces will overwhelm our sugarcane industry. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I will stop at that. Since my colleagues are here, I will request my bakoki, (my age mate with regards to circumcision), the Member of Parliament for Kabuchai, Hon. Kalasinga Majimbo, to second. Thank you."
},
{
"id": 1463595,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463595/?format=api",
"text_counter": 508,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
},
"content": " Hon. Kalasinga, second."
},
{
"id": 1463596,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463596/?format=api",
"text_counter": 509,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kabuchai, FORD-K",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Majimbo Kalasinga",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. This Motion by the Hon. Bakoki. Bakoki is a western term. It means that you were circumcised in the same year. Indeed, you know very well that Hon. Nabulindo and I were elected on the same date in a by-election. That is where it emanates from. The Motion by Hon. Nabulindo puts the farmer…"
},
{
"id": 1463597,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463597/?format=api",
"text_counter": 510,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
},
"content": " What did you say happened to you with the Mover in the same year?"
},
{
"id": 1463598,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463598/?format=api",
"text_counter": 511,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kabuchai, FORD-K",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Majimbo Kalasinga",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon. Temporary Speaker, the reference he has put is onomatopoeia. It puts us together in the same circles of when we were elected and circumcised. The word bakoki is a sweet term used for a person you love most. The Motion that Hon. Nabulindo has put across to this Assembly puts a farmer as a central midfielder in the sugar industry. We cannot, as a nation, put serious emphasis on the millers alone. You know very well that a river that forgets its source will die soon. The source of all the sugar industries in Kenya is the farmers. They are the ones who prepares the stabilisation of the millers. Millers have nucleus estates, but the percentage of the cane that is produced there is around 7-10 per cent. That does not run a factory. In fact, much of the emphasis, as we talk today, is in terms of hybridisation of the cane. The cane was researched in the 1980s. We need to lay much emphasis on early maturity and high-pole content. Pole content is sucrose content. We must have a cane with high succulency in terms of juice production so that a smaller scale farm can produce cane with high productivity. This will only come if we invest much in the research for the sake of farmers. We need to do much of that genetic hybridisation to bring in better breeds that can mature fast. If you look at a country like Malaysia, they have a cane that matures within seven months. This will increase the output of a small farm, capture maximisation of the miller and increase the farmer’s profit. The rate of harvest will be higher in a year."
},
{
"id": 1463599,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463599/?format=api",
"text_counter": 512,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kabuchai, FORD-K",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Majimbo Kalasinga",
"speaker": null,
"content": "If we still live with the old breed that takes 24 months to mature, we are frustrating the farmer with this move. The people from western Kenya, and I know you happen to come from the same region, Hon. Temporary Speaker, have the best fertility in terms of production. We are producing every day. The population is increasing and, therefore, the land is reducing. We need to see how we can maximise the small farms that we have and produce more. I thank Hon. Nabulindo for bringing this Motion. In terms of tillage, when we were growing up, you could not plant the cane if you had not ploughed twice. Now, the planting process, because it is left to the farmer alone, with less money and support, is not as scientific as is required."
},
{
"id": 1463600,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463600/?format=api",
"text_counter": 513,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kabuchai, FORD-K",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Majimbo Kalasinga",
"speaker": null,
"content": "We have something called seed treatment. In planting cane, seed treatment means that, first, some chemicals must be used before you plant it. It must be cut to a certain size; not more than 40 centimetres, treated well and placed in the soil. Currently, we are planting without those The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1463601,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463601/?format=api",
"text_counter": 514,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kabuchai, FORD-K",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Majimbo Kalasinga",
"speaker": null,
"content": "conditions because the farmer is left alone. If this Motion is passed, I believe the farmer will be given the midfielder role in that game. A midfielder in a way that he will supply the best cane to the miller and himself now having some profit to run again."
}
]
}