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{
    "id": 1046164,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1046164/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 155,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Shiyonga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13181,
        "legal_name": "Masitsa Naomi Shiyonga",
        "slug": "masitsa-naomi-shiyonga"
    },
    "content": "The other thing I want to talk about is the policies. We came up with policies on how to regulate irrigation in this country; how our farmers can adopt irrigation and how they can limit themselves to policies that are acceptable to our farmers. However, you find that this is only in books, in Bills and in Acts, but it is not implemented out there. There are people who take agriculture for granted in this country. When they take agriculture for granted, they kill our economy. When you look at the maize and sugarcane farmers, they are crying foul especially in western Kenya. We do not want the same to happen in Ukambani where the same people, using this Bill, will navigate their way to this part of the country and bring down Ndengu farmers. We want to encourage our farmers to follow regulations. We want to encourage our Government to follow standards and operation. I like one thing in this Bill, where the Cabinet Secretary will not be the main person to control the agricultural sector or the county government is controlled by one person. All the stakeholders must be on the table, discuss and look at the cartels that infringe this sector and limit them so that our people can benefit from this production. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Bill has also mentioned the school feeding programme. You will find that these cartels that I am talking about will get the tenders, pretend that they are the ones who have produced, export this produce to other countries then rebrand it and bring it back to Kenya. Therefore, the regulations should not only remain in books, policies and Acts, but they should be practical on the ground. The monitoring that the Bill is talking about should be real time so that when you monitor this establishment, we can tame some of the shortcuts that are taken by the brokers. The farmers will then benefit from what we are trying to provide or what we are trying to come up with. Otherwise, I like the Bill. I want to congratulate my colleague here. We are some of the people who admire the Ndengu or the mung beans from Ukambani, but with the technology that has been established here, we shall be able to make it to go beyond the semi-arid areas. The technology that has been discussed here has been embraced by Israel. If you go to Israel, it is a total desert, but they have changed it into a place where you can think there is rain throughout the year. Therefore, let us embrace this Bill. Let us contribute to it. Let us tell Kenyans that we have life and we can make laws that can be adopted by Kenyans, adopted by the two Houses and can help Kenyans to produce and make use of what they have produced. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is important that the legislations that we are putting into place here, if they are adopted in the other House, let them move very fast so that we can adopt them and make these farmers feel that they actually own what is their own. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir."
}