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{
    "id": 1086922,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1086922/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 496,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kisumu CWR, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Rozaah Buyu",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1950,
        "legal_name": "Rozaah Akinyi Buyu",
        "slug": "rozaah-akinyi-buyu"
    },
    "content": "know and I am confident that with the reinstatement of the sugar board, all the rules of the farmers will be looked into. Just this week, there was a video that was going viral on social media. A video of a sugar-cane farmer and his wife crying after watching their cane dry in their farms and yet, nobody is collecting their cane to go to the factory. That is a family that has toiled and put all its energy in planting the sugar-cane with the hope that they will be able to reap from their efforts. However, unfortunately, like most of the farmers in that region, their effort, energy and sweat has come to a naught. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I know that with the re-introduction of the sugar board, the issue of non-payment will be an issue of the past. When sugar-cane farmers work hard and get nothing in return, the sugar board will look into that. We know there has been poor management in our industries and most of the industries have actually collapsed. The reinstatement of the sugar board will also ensure that there is proper management of those industries. We know that sugar affects the lives of thousands and millions of Kenyans and yet, the issue of sugar has been reduced to a small directorate within the Ministry of Agriculture. Sugar is life to many Kenyans and must be treated as so. I also support the fact that in this board, there will be representatives of the farmers themselves. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, who can pretend to talk about farmers when they are not given the opportunity to bring up their issues? I support this Bill as it gives the farmers an opportunity to be represented in the sugar board that actually talks about things that really affect them. We have heard about the bottom-up economy approach. I dare say that the only bottom-up economy approach that will be beneficial to Kenyans is that approach that actually enhances, develops and expands economic activities of the people at the bottom. It is not about donating items to them but it is about coming up with policies that will actually enhance economic activities. Such policies are enhanced through this Bill. I would also like to support this Bill because of the introduction of the levy. We know that many a times the cost that is passed on to the farmers is the one that arises because of poor infrastructure facilities or the cost that arises out of poor machinery and eventually the profit the farmer makes from his cane is minimised and limited. This is because the farmer has to bear the cost that would have otherwise been eliminated. Through the levy, all that will be addressed. The cost to the farmer will be minimised and, therefore, the profit to the farmer will be enhanced. I would also like to say that the greatest interest of the sugar farmer is to plant sugar-cane and ensure that whatever returns they get is maximised. The farmer is not interested in zoning, privatisation, and all those things. The farmer's biggest interest is that when he plants his cane, he can get maximum returns from that cane. Therefore, whatever we do should be of benefit to that farmer. For that reason I support this Bill."
}