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{
    "id": 1049133,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1049133/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 153,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bomachoge Borabu, Independent",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Prof.) Zadoc Ogutu",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13302,
        "legal_name": "Zadoc Abel Ogutu",
        "slug": "zadoc-abel-ogutu-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this noble amendment to the Crops Act. Looking back on the development of the crops sector, the country seems to be moving in reverse. Many crops that were popular in the 1960s and 1970s have now disappeared. This disappearance has been not complemented by the expansion of new crops such as coffee. If well- embraced in many areas of this country, coffee could have improved the economy of this country in a number of areas where it has more or less disappeared. Part of the challenge is because of the technology that is supposed to develop those crops. So far, most regions seem to have completely lost any support that was coming from the national Government. If you look at the coffee sector for instance, there is hardly any support in the rural areas that comes from the Government, either in terms of the varieties of coffee, the seedlings or the chemicals that were formerly used to ensure that those crops can produce their best. I will focus on one crop, namely tea, which has been a major source of earnings in the rural areas in most regions, especially in Western Kenya, Kisii and in my constituency, Bomachoge Borabu. The crop was popular about 10 years ago, but these days you will find farmers uprooting it. It is unfortunate that they are uprooting the crop, not because they do not want it, but because the prices from it are too low to sustain the investment by the farmers. As we amend this Bill, it is important to ask ourselves as a nation if we are really serious about food security. Are we serious about increasing employment through agriculture, value addition or farmer-involvement at the primary level? If we can answer some of those questions, we can then move to the second level and ask; how do we improve management of this crop at the market level and beyond? The country has spoken about value addition for many years. However, we do not seem to demonstrate that value addition. If you go to the supermarkets, the products from crops that you find there have been imported, in some cases after they have used Kenyan raw materials. What is happening with regard to the value addition in this country? If we invested a lot in value addition, we will have reason to export our products to the region and also have more earnings going to the farmer. If you look at the crops sector, you wonder whether the graduates from the universities are adding any value to the production at the farm level. They are not there. The services that used to be provided in the 1970s and 1980s are not there. Even when they are from the private sector and individual consultants, the prices are too high and even the consultants are not available. It is important that even as we amend this part of the Act, we look at the many areas that are putting this country into a very awkward situation such that we now have to rely on the neighbouring countries for very simple products. The market is invaded by products from the region that we do not even need. They come to spoil the market. We need to look at the critical areas to ensure that our farmers are more interested in investing in crop production and have more reason to celebrate the crops they are growing. This is important because as a country, we have an agenda that is focused on food security and manufacturing. This agenda cannot be of any significant value unless we expand the base level of crop production. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}