Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1045060,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1045060/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 391,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wambua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13199,
        "legal_name": "Enoch Kiio Wambua",
        "slug": "enoch-kiio-wambua"
    },
    "content": "something happens and you are unable to sell the ndengu and farmers are left with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of ndengu without a market. I want to move faster so that I can give colleagues an opportunity to weigh in. On the matter of setting up the mung beans policy, this Act requires that the Cabinet Secretary responsible for agriculture at the national Government, within six months of the commencement of the Act, shall develop and adopt a comprehensive national mung beans policy to promote growth and development of the mung beans industry in Kenya. I like the provision because it is not an open-ended obligation. There is a timeline to it that once this House, in concurrence with the National Assembly, passes this Bill into an Act of Parliament, within six months the Cabinet Secretary in charge for agriculture has an obligation to develop national policies on the production and marketing of ndengu, which will help our farmers. It does not stop there. It goes ahead to say that in developing the National Mung Bean Policy, the Cabinet Secretary, so that he does not have an open cheque to decide policy to develop for this industry--- Madam Temporary Speaker, he shall have regard to, one, the need for an effective management and implementation structure at the national and county levels of government, in order to ensure the effective development of the Mung bean industry. Two, he must have regards to adequate capacity development and support for growers and other stakeholders in the Mung bean industry. The inclusion of farmers and building of capacity for farmers is deliberate. If you leave it open, what will happen is that policies will be developed, which actually advance the cause of the middlemen. However, this Bill is very clear that as we develop those policies, they are supposed to put the farmer at the center of decision making when it comes to regulation of the industry. Madam Temporary Speaker, we have seen what is happening in other crop value chains, where specificity is not available on what direction the Cabinet Secretary (CS) should take in developing policy. This Bill takes care of that. Part III is on regulatory provisions. Clause 8 is on the requirements for registration by growers. I will explain that a bit. That every grower shall register with the relevant County Executive Committee Member (CECM). Each CECM shall maintain a register of all ndengu growers registered in the respect county under Subsection 1, specifying, one, the name of the grower. Two, the location, size and parcel number of the land on which ndengu is grown and the variety of the Mung bean grown. Madam Temporary Speaker, this is very crucial because we should move towards a direction as a nation where we have our facts and statistics right. Today, it may not be very possible for anyone to tell you precisely how many coffee farmers we have in this country or how much land has been dedicated to tea farming in this country. This Bill tries to make it even easier for governors, Presidents and Cabinet Secretaries; that at the click of a button, you know how many ndengu farmers you have in this country, with their names. You know the acreage and the amount of land that has been dedicated for production of ndengu in this country, and what varieties are being grown in this country."
}