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{
    "id": 1097125,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1097125/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 638,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Migori CWR, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Pamela Ochieng",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13261,
        "legal_name": "Pamela Awuor Ochieng",
        "slug": "pamela-awuor-ochieng"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Thank you, again, for your consideration concerning my health. I rise to support this amendment Bill on irrigation. It is very interesting that as early as in primary school, we keep teaching our children that Kenya is an agricultural country. We tell them that food is a basic need for any living human, animal or plant. With that knowledge that food is a basic need, it is interesting that even today as we stand here, there are some Kenyans who cannot have food on their table. On that note, I would like to reiterate that among all the basic needs, or even the rights that we know all Kenyans have, the most important concern should be food. Therefore, it is important that we look for a way of encouraging our Government to give priority to food production in Kenya. As fellow colleagues have said, we have watched a pattern of happenings in Kenya. There is a time that we have plenty of rain, there is a time when in certain parts of this country people and animals literally died because of lack of it. Yet, year in, year out we do nothing tangible or sustainable to make sure that the water that is sometimes destructive is kept to be utilised when the drought comes. I want to support that our Government should actually dedicate a significant sum of money to make sure that all the farmland in Kenya… In Migori County where I come from, much of the land is agricultural including Nyatike which is actually semi-arid. Along the lake basin, it is usually very dry but the land there is fertile enough. I am glad that there was some irrigation scheme and rice plantation was introduced there. If we can do this in the manner that I heard my friend, Hon. Sankok describe, then we can do a lot of horticulture. We can also do a lot of fruit farming and all sorts of farming. Even the goats that survive well in semi-arid areas, need water at some stage, at least, to wet their throats as they chew their cud. So, the need for this planned and carefully installed irrigation system in the entire country cannot be overemphasised. It is timely. It should have been done many years ago and this is the right time coupled with the fact that our Government of today has highlighted the need for food and food security as one of the key pillars. It is my prayer that President Uhuru Kenyatta and team make sure that it happens before next year’s general election. That way, we shall really know that, indeed, we want Kenya to be food secure."
}