Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1049167,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1049167/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kwanza, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2065,
        "legal_name": "Ferdinard Kevin Wanyonyi",
        "slug": "ferdinard-kevin-wanyonyi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I can see that the Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, as well as the former Chairman are present. I want to thank Hon. Tandaza for coming up with this Bill. As a country, we have to be serious. I am saying this because I see that the current and the previous Chairs of the Committee are here. We have to be serious as a country and, if possible, have some resolutions to streamline the Ministry of Agriculture in doing some of the important things that everybody has mentioned here. Firstly, we have to be serious because, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy of this country. Secondly, it used to be a foreign exchange earner, but now it is not. It also offers employment opportunities to our youths. We have to be serious because in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, it did very well. It was the best agricultural country in the region. Today apart from what Hon. Tandaza has mentioned, there are crops that are dying. I do not hear about millet and sorghum. Maize is almost gone. Drive around the countryside and see whether farmers are serious about planting maize. For example, we have dairy farming, which I am afraid is also dying. You cannot believe this. You go to Kibera or anywhere else in Nairobi. You will see milk coming from Uganda when we actually used to export milk. We have lost our market in the Middle East. Today there is a shortage of milk in this country. This leaves me wondering what is happening to the parastatals that are supposed to be supportive of this sector. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we have a serious issue. The Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, in which I also sit, should have a different approach with a view of coming up with solutions that can help streamline the Ministry of Agriculture. What is happening at our research centres? Nothing! Some of them have closed down. For example, the research centre at Bukura Irrigation Scheme in Western Kenya is dead. When I was in Standard Two, I used to see extension service officers from the Ministry of Agriculture going round helping farmers to improve their methodology of planting maize, potatoes and other crops. Today, there is nothing like that. We have even devolved agriculture to the counties and I see nothing happening. I had a particular issue with extension services in my county. 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."
}