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{
    "id": 103304,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/103304/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 323,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Kosgei",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Agriculture",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13,
        "legal_name": "Lucas Kipkosgei Chepkitony",
        "slug": "lucas-chepkitony"
    },
    "content": "The policy that we want to pursue is one of self-sufficiency in food and not importation. We should seek to export food rather than import. It is amazing that Zambia is exporting food! A few years ago, I think in the 1970s, they were trying to import farmers from this country to teach them how to farm. Now we are on the other side. The United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goal No.1 is food security. As has been pointed out, in 2003, the Maputo Declaration insisted that governments have to put 10 per cent of their budget in agriculture to be able to obtain food sufficiency. In 2006, Kenya put 6 per cent of her Budget in the agricultural sector. Last year, that figure had gone done to 2.7 per cent of the Budget in the 12 Ministries that are responsible for things to do with agriculture. It is, therefore, not difficult to see where our problems are. It is also quite puzzling because if you think about how any economy runs, it will not be possible to see how you can balance any budget without having a food base. Everytime there has been a drought in this country, one did not need to be an economist to know that the budget would not balance. Therefore, to me, really if we are serious about developing this country, we have to start at the level of feeding the Kenyans. I find it a matter of puzzle, to me, that today Malawi produces food and exports to us. Kenya was ahead of this region in so many things, especially agriculture. One of the speakers today talked about livestock. It was Kenyans who taught Botswana about the meat commission. In the end, ours went under and we lost the quota even in the European Union, of what we could export to them. I think we also lost the quota on sugar. So, these things are there."
}