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{
"id": 1046201,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1046201/?format=api",
"text_counter": 192,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Milgo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13174,
"legal_name": "Milgo Alice Chepkorir",
"slug": "milgo-alice-chepkorir"
},
"content": "production. For a long time, farmers have been frustrated because they have been using the same instruments and seeds, and expecting different results. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Bill has gone a long way to provide for how farmers can acquire loans to improve their farming methods. For a long time, most of our farmers did not even know that they can access loans to improve their agricultural produce. This Bill will go a long way to ensure that farmers are entitled to obtain loans. There is also the provision for agricultural extension services. Extension services play a very important role, particularly in training farmers on the best methods of farming, the best fertilizers to use, the best seeds, and the time to plant the crops. With these extension officers, mung beans will go a long way and improve. In addition to that, this Bill has provided for collection of data so that we know how many farmers are growing these beans and how much crop was produced. Data does not lie. I was told that Sen. Wambua was attracted by the fact that one of the constituencies in his county in 2010 was able to produce 680,000 tonnes of mung beans, and in a short while, in 2014, the tonnage had gone up to 1.2 million. The only frustration was that these beans were only bought for Kshs20 per kilogramme. After these, middlemen would travel for just a few kilometers and sell them at Kshs250 per kilogramme. This is a very frustrating scenario, but I am sure that with this Bill, these farmers will be saved from these middlemen, who have for a long time shortchanged our farmers. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, another very important issue is value addition. Mung beans can have value addition, so that they can attract a better price. For a long time, tea has been sold from our country to other countries as raw materials. Once it has been used to blend tea from other countries, it loses its identity. We are no longer able to identify it as our tea. It becomes American or United Kingdom tea. Our farmers, therefore, end up losing that. Just recently, we passed the Warehouse Receipt System Bill. We have warehouses across the counties. These can also be used to store these crops, and there could be exchanges across the counties. There are those counties that grow potatoes; others grow bananas, millet, while others like Kitui grow a lot of mung beans. If these crops can be stored during the dry season, they can be exchanged right across the counties in terms of trading. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Section 6 of this Bill speaks to the issue of prioritization of the mung beans in terms of a Government feeding programme. My Committee has been trying to establish how Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) children can be fed. We spoke to several governors across the country, and one of the governors we spoke to was the Governor of Kitui County. She told us that she could not manage to feed the children because there was no food. Her county actually relies on relief food. It is now that I have discovered this. Next time I meet the Governor of Kitui, I will tell her that there are a lot of mung beans in her county and she should initiate feeding programmes. She completely refused that her feeding cannot be initiated because of lack of food. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in a short while, we shall be holding a conference to put together the ideas that we have been speaking on this ECDE programme. Among The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}