HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 1608389,
"next": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=155148",
"previous": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=155146",
"results": [
{
"id": 1569662,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569662/?format=api",
"text_counter": 130,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "THE AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK EXTENSION SERVICES BILL (Senate Bill No.12 of 2022)"
},
{
"id": 1569663,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569663/?format=api",
"text_counter": 131,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Deputy Speaker",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga, proceed."
},
{
"id": 1569664,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569664/?format=api",
"text_counter": 132,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon. Deputy Speaker, I beg to move that the Agriculture and Livestock Extension Services Bill (Senate Bill No.12 of 2022) be now read a Second Time. This country has gone through a lot of changes, especially in the agricultural sector. Way back in the 1990s and early 2000s, the country was performing extremely well because we had an organised agricultural extension system. The agricultural extension system covers both agriculture and livestock. We have had an evolution of extension services in the country, offered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. At some point, the Ministry of Agriculture was merged with the Ministry of Livestock Development and extension services were harmonised over time. Even when these ministries were separate, extension services were offered very well. Extension services are part of devolved functions. At the start of devolution, most extension officers were released to county governments. Unfortunately, there has not been 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": 1569665,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569665/?format=api",
"text_counter": 133,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
"speaker": null,
"content": "continuous or progressive hiring of extension officers to replace retired ones or those that have gone through natural attrition. The last time the Government seriously hired extension officers, and I remember this very clearly, was in 1989. That is when we had a complete uptake of all the extension service graduates from both universities and diploma colleges. After that, the Government has been sparingly replacing those who leave either through retirement or other forms. Extension services have gone down considerably in this country. There was the expectation that after devolution, county governments would take up extension services very seriously. Unfortunately, this has not happened because the budgetary allocation to agriculture has been dwindling over time. At the national level, allocation to agriculture has also not been doing very well. Lumped under agriculture, rural and urban development, the extension services sector is currently number nine in terms of priority, and yet it is a sector that supports most of the population in this country and produces most of what we export out of this country. The sector provides raw materials to our industries and earns us foreign exchange. So, it is delicate. However, it is majorly private. Extension services are necessary and this Bill seeks to reconfigure these services in the present. The Bill was passed by the Senate and brought to us. I am the co-sponsor. The Bill has several parts. Part I basically deals with preliminaries: definitions of terms and objectives of the Bill. The key objective of this Bill is to come up with a mechanism to provide farmers with technologies, innovations and management practices generated by our research institutions and universities. These technologies, innovations and management practices have not been reaching farmers in time. It is known that technology transfer is necessary for farmers to improve productivity. It is also a fact that Kenya has limitations in terms of arable land. So, we are left to improve on productivity. To do that, we must take up research findings. This can only be done through extension services. Since there are weaknesses in these services, this Bill seeks to awaken the consciousness of Kenyans, especially those in the management of the sector to see how to revive these services. The first objective of this Bill is basically to foster coordination and collaboration in extension service research by the national and county governments, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), learning institutions, research bodies and other non-State actors. We are looking at all players involved in generating technologies, innovations and management practices such national research institutions, universities and colleges. It could also be done by Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centres (CGIAR) – international research organisations like International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and International World Research Institute (ILRI) which are located in this country and have the objective of generating technologies, innovations and management practices. These technologies, innovations and management practices could be focused on specific areas of the country. They are necessary for improved agricultural productivity. The other objective is to promote generation of high incomes for farmers and traders through increased production by use of competitive materials. These are inputs such as seeds or genetic materials in livestock development. Farmers must be apprised on where to get unadulterated inputs. Some input suppliers have been accused once or many times for selling wrong or non-viable inputs. That loophole needs to be sealed; and the only way to do so is to ensure that agricultural extension services are organised in such a way that farmers know where to get the correct information. One of the Bill’s objectives is continuous and sustained research on extension services for the development of the agricultural and livestock industries. The agricultural industry 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": 1569666,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569666/?format=api",
"text_counter": 134,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
"speaker": null,
"content": "involves crop development, which involves getting better seed varieties and planting materials. We also need better breeds of animals. We need fast maturing animals for beef production and high yielders in terms of milk production from dairy animals. That information cannot be generated and accessed by farmers if there is no organised system of transferring innovations and technologies to them through extension services. The fourth objective is the adoption of a sector-wide approach in provision of extension services, which enables access to appropriate quality services from the best service providers to attain higher productivity, increase income and the standards of living for Kenyans. We are referring to the standards of living for Kenyans because the great majority of Kenyans are aged or depend on agriculture as their major means of livelihood. They may not know where to get the best extension services. We need an extension service where farmers can access technical information from proven experts. As a Committee, we have been looking at how to professionalise agricultural extension services and identify agricultural professionals because we have agri-preneurs or agricultural practitioners who are mainly investors in agricultural input supply and agrochemicals, but are not necessarily qualified to offer extension services. Unfortunately, we do not have a regulatory mechanism to take care of this sector in that respect. We are also coming up with a Bill that will identify and license agricultural technicians and professionals. We shall then be able to clean up the agricultural sector to know who the right people are to offer extension and advisory services. Many other bodies also offer agricultural extension services. We need a mechanism of cleaning up or approving those bodies so that we can be sure that our farmers are getting quality education when it comes to advisory on farming and livestock keeping. The final objective of the Bill is for the provision of financial support to various players in the extension services. The Bill proposes a fundraising mechanism to support extension services. The Bill separates issues to be handled by the national Government and those to be handled by the county governments. The national Government handles issues to do with research because research cannot be localised and research products need to be transferred to all those who may need them. International trade is also domiciled at the national level because international trading systems involve complex agreements. When it comes to trading in agricultural products, competent authorities have been identified across different players, actors, members or parties in a trading system. Only those competent authorities can qualify products for human consumption in various countries in view of the Codex Alimentarius or the international system of qualifying what can be consumed by human beings."
},
{
"id": 1569667,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569667/?format=api",
"text_counter": 135,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Capacity building is also domiciled at the national level because the national Government or the Ministry is capable of linking up with other institutions across the world to get information, verify it and also link up with research and education systems in the country to qualify it. The Bill also goes further to identify the regulatory functions to be domiciled in the national Government."
},
{
"id": 1569668,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569668/?format=api",
"text_counter": 136,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The transfer of knowledge and technology at the local level is left to the county governments. The county governments need to identify the problems that the farmers are facing, the mechanisms that can be used to pass information to the farmers, and the concentration of farmers in various parts of the country to determine how they can be assisted to access information. The county governments have been charged with a diagnostic function to identify exactly what our farmers are suffering from. We need to ask ourselves how often the issues captured in the Bill occur. We are living in an age where information, communication and technology (ICT) is very key. If it is not fully integrated in the Bill, we need to ensure that it becomes a major application."
},
{
"id": 1569669,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569669/?format=api",
"text_counter": 137,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Many institutions have been established in this country to support agricultural development such as universities, national and international research institutions, control 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": 1569670,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569670/?format=api",
"text_counter": 138,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
"speaker": null,
"content": "institutions like the Pest Control Products Board, which monitors the pesticides that come into the country, the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) and others. We also have the Agricultural Information Resource Centre (AIRC) which synthesises information from various sources such as universities and research institutions and passes it on to Kenyans for consumption by the farmers. The AIRC is one of the facilities that needs to be looked into as we try to configure extension services in our country. As we discuss the Bill, we need to ask ourselves the extent to which these facilities support extension services and how they will be progressively supported to generate and manage information for consumption by the farmers."
},
{
"id": 1569671,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569671/?format=api",
"text_counter": 139,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The Bill goes further to identify the various players in the agricultural sector, who are each given roles. We need to ask ourselves where Kenya wants to go. If we look at the current Government's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, six out of the nine priority value chains are in agriculture. Those value chains include beef, dairy, leather, rice and coffee. Targets have been set for those value chains. To improve coffee production to meet our quota, we must open up more land to grow coffee and intensify coffee production. That cannot be done by smallholder farmers without appropriate information. They need to understand how to test soils and identify the kind of fertiliser required for optimal productivity. Farmers also need to know when to spray, for what reason, to protect their crops from which insects or pests, and from which diseases. They must understand how to regulate their activities, and for that to happen, they need proper advice. The only mechanism available for advising farmers is through extension services. If there is a function that is consistently cited as having failed in this country, it is the extension service. Everyone who speaks about it refers to it in the past tense. They do not describe an elaborate or functioning system today. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that after the implementation of the 2010 Constitution and the creation of county governments, with agriculture devolved, the responsibility shifted. Staff from the previous system were inherited, many of whom have since upgraded their qualifications from certificate to diploma, degree, and even master's level. As a result, they may no longer be available to provide services at the grassroots level. Previously, extension was organised so that a certificate-level officer would be stationed at the unit level. The country was divided into agricultural extension units. At the locational level, there would typically be a diploma holder coordinating these officers, and at the district level, there was an extension advisor or officer coordinating district activities. That system worked well because information flowed both ways and farmers received timely advisory support. Today, farmers are largely on their own. This Bill seeks to re-focus efforts and place advisory services back at the centre of agricultural development. It is not possible for farmers to produce better or increase productivity without access to such services. Not all farmers are well-informed. While we may say most of our farmers have gone to school, schooling is different from receiving specific, thematic agricultural advice. This Bill, therefore, aims to reform and revitalise extension services. The final part of the Bill addresses the financing mechanism. It proposes government support to the extension service and the establishment of a dedicated fund to sustain these services. We acknowledge that creating such a fund is not easy, especially for a system that does not currently generate any levies. However, it is possible to introduce levies for extension services. That said, we cannot begin charging for extension services abruptly. We must be organised. Several services in the agricultural sector have been commercialised before farmers were adequately prepared. One example is the tick control system, where government-managed cattle dips once helped control tick infestations. The Government supplied acaricides and managed the dips. Another example is the commercialisation of clinical services for livestock, again without properly preparing the farmers. Therefore, if we are to commercialise extension services, we must proceed with caution. The process must be well managed, and the transition 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."
}
]
}