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{
    "id": 105104,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/105104/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 379,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kaino",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 32,
        "legal_name": "Boaz Kipchumba Kaino",
        "slug": "boaz-kaino"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I beg to move-: THAT, considering that the country relies on rain-fed agriculture for food production; aware that rainfall is inadequate and unreliable; appreciating the need to ensure that all households can reliably and affordably access basic food items; aware that government has put in place measures to develop and revitalize various irrigation projects which had collapsed; this House resolves that the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation move to set up small holder irrigation schemes of at least 2,000 acres in all constituencies where applicable as to facilitate food crop production. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, while moving this Motion, my mind is very clear on what has been happening in the country in the past. I am also aware that most of the land that God gave us is arid. A very small area in Central Province and a part of Rift Valley Province are suitable for agricultural production. God has endowed us with a lot of natural resources. We have a mountain like Mt. Kenya. All the water that comes from the mountains and rains--- We could sufficiently feed our people with the rains we receive. If we used our wisdom, we could not be having cases of starvation as we saw in Turkana, parts of North Eastern Province and even in Central Province. There are some people in this country who go without food. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I have come up with this Motion with the intention that the Government will take steps. It is long since we broke the colonial chains; this is more than 45 years ago. In spite of this, we are still begging for food. We visit our neighbors to beg for food. We beg for food even in Africa where we think Kenya ranks in the top ten. This is not very good. We have institutions that offer agricultural courses. The Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) is more than 20 years old. We have not utilized it, yet we have trained graduates who have spent a lot of money to study water, science, irrigation and agriculture. We have been churning them without utilizing them. We have never utilized the National Youth Service (NYS) and other institutions in order for this country to be food sufficient. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, these are the problems we have in this country. Even the five-year plans that we have are not proper. Those plans will not carter for our people unless we change the attitudes of our people or even the Government. As I proceed, I wish that the Government could start small irrigation schemes in all the constituencies where there is land. Even where there is no land, the Government can acquire it in order to make food available in every constituency. The water from Mt. Kenya and all the hills in Ukambani which drains into the Indian Ocean goes to waste. This is the case and yet our people continue to suffer and starve. There is a lot of water from Cherangany Hills and even Mt. Elgon that goes to waste in Lake Turkana. With all the brains we have especially, at the JKUAT, which 27"
}