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{
"id": 1045944,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1045944/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Alego-Usonga, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Samuel Atandi",
"speaker": {
"id": 13290,
"legal_name": "Samuel Onunga Atandi",
"slug": "samuel-onunga-atandi"
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"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to make a contribution on this very important Bill by Hon. Tandaza. I know very little about some of those crops in the Coast region, other than cashewnut and coconut. Now, with the eloquent submission by my brother, Hon. Owen Baya, I have something to say. It is important for the Government to identify which cash crops prosper in each and every region in this country. This is because each and every part of this country has some potential especially in the area of cash crops. So, my colleague here has identified that cash crop as something that this country really needs to focus on, and it is a critical source of foreign exchange. You realise that this country is in a deficient situation in the area of foreign exchange, and each and every time Kenya is losing on that space. Therefore, it is very important for this House to take advantage of this proposal so that the Government of Kenya can use this opportunity to be able to increase our space in that area. So, I would like to support this. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the coastal region, especially Kilifi and Kwale counties, are some of the areas that are marginalised. They hardly have any serious cash crops as compared to other areas like Central region. So, it is really important that this House takes this matter very seriously and urge the CS, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Co-operatives, to ensure that once this Bill is passed, its implementation takes off immediately so that we are able, as a House and an economy, to benefit from this. Hon. Owen Baya has done justice to this Bill by explaining the benefits of Bixa. It is a cash crop that will not be sold in Kenya, but outside this country. It is a cash crop that will help in improving the economy of the region. I need to be told whether it is something that can also grow in my region so that, as I support it, I know that farmers from my region can also benefit. Lastly, Hon. Baya, you are a very good man, and I like the way you have made your point here. I wish you would have said that it is something that can benefit “hustlers”. You are not even talking about “hustlers” and yet, you are a man who is advancing the politics of “hustlers”. I wish you could have said that it will benefit the “hustlers” of the coastal region. I have never heard “hustlers” talking about farming. They only talk about wheelbarrows and mikokoteni . I wish this is something that was going to be in the politics of “hustlers”. Anyway, in the Manifesto of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party, which you are about to run away from, you should know that ODM is a party that has a very big space on agriculture and cash crop development for the coastal region. Therefore, I want to urge you to come back to the party. I support. Thank you."
}