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{
    "id": 1049224,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1049224/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 244,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13322,
        "legal_name": "John Kiarie Waweru",
        "slug": "john-kiarie-waweru"
    },
    "content": "I have to say that from what is coming out, this crop by the name Bixa - which is locally referred to as mrangi - is important to the economy of the Coast. However, not only for the economy of the Coast but it looks like it can be a crop that will be very meaningful to the economy of the entire country. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I think the opportunity we have been given in this amendment is one, for us to look holistically at the whole issue of agriculture in this country. It is a point where we can start questioning ourselves on how we have been conducting the business of agriculture. We are always told that you should not look at someone's priorities by how they list them, but by how they prioritise the investment into these priorities. We have not been prioritising investment in agriculture. It is important that as we are looking at this amendment, we rethink the whole model of agriculture in this country. Let us think about our rainfed agriculture. It always puzzles me that we take a commodity like petroleum all the way from the Coast at the port to the farthest corners of this country. If you wanted petroleum in any corner of this country, you only need to drive to a petrol station and you shall get fuel. It puzzles me why we have not been able to take advantage of Lake Victoria, which is the largest fresh water lake in Africa, in the same way we pipe petroleum. It puzzles me how we cannot pipe water to the far flung corners of this country. That is why I am saying that this is an important time to relook at how we do agriculture. I support this amendment understanding that this crop called Bixa, as we are being told, is drought-resistant. It is disease and pest-resistant. We also understand that by listing it as a cash crop, we shall be forcing our Government to start investing a bit more on it. By investment, I am talking about through the line investment. We are told that this crop has no waste. Even as we extract products from the seed, we understand that there is much more that can be done in terms of value addition to this crop. By relooking at our agriculture, we shall be speaking to the issue of the Big Four Agenda. In my critique of the Big Four Agenda, I understand it is important that we take cognisance of the need for health, urban housing and general housing. I believe that if we took agriculture, we shall be addressing all the other three Big Four Agenda items by just investing in agriculture. If we invested well in agriculture, our people who are predominantly farmers, will get an extra buck and with that, the population will pay a bit more for their health insurance thus supporting the health agenda. The same people will have some disposable income, meaning they will improve their livelihood and invest a bit more in the quality of housing. By just addressing agriculture in the Big Four Agenda, we shall have addressed all the other Big Four Agenda items including industrialisation. If we invest well in agriculture, we shall end up going into cottage industries and with this, we shall also be growing industries. It is important to me that this crop is disease and pest-resistant and so, even as we are talking about Bixa, it is time we stopped being cowards as a House and started looking at other crops that would be beneficial to this country. Our organic traditional foods are disappearing. We are in a situation where our country’s health system is overburdened with cases of cancer. We are learning that it is out of what we eat that we end up contracting diseases. Our bodies are not resistant to some of these diseases. We are honoured this morning to have in the Chamber an esteemed doctor by the name of Hon. (Dr.) Nyikal. I am sure he will be contributing to this later, but he would advise that it is out of the things that we eat, most of which are not organic foods, that we end up with cases of cancer. Even as we look at crops for consumption, we have also to drop our cowardice. Maybe it is time we started looking at other disease and pest-resistant crops. I would like to say that it is time we considered legalisation of marijuana in this country. 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."
}