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{
    "id": 1156234,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1156234/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 141,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to also make my contribution to this Bill from the Sugar Bill, 2019 from the National Assembly. Madam temporary Speaker, any time we have an issue that touches on farmers, it invites my keen interest because most of the people who support us to come to this House are farmers. About 33 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is directly supported by farming. Back to our counties, especially Nyamira County, almost 40 per cent of the employment opportunities is in the agricultural sector. If you go to other places like Rift Valley, in the rural population, it goes up to 70 per cent. So, the things we used to hear when President Moi was in power that agriculture is the backbone of our economy is, indeed, true. Madam Deputy Speaker, legislation can turn fortunes of our farmers. If you speak to people like Sen. Cheruiyot who come from the tea-growing areas, the Tea Act that was a brain child of this House has turned around fortunes of tea farmers. In fact, it put smiles on the faces of tea farmers immediately it was assented to and became an Act of Parliament and acquired the force of law. In my county, the income per kilogramme in most factories increased by Kshs3 from an average Kshs17 to Kshs20. There is a lot of excitement within the farmers that the bonus that they will be paid this year, will make them smile and earn decent lives. In other countries, farming is a very attractive occupation. We once went to a Podu family in Maryland, United States of America (USA). The children manning that farm are the third generation of the Podu Family. The farm was owned by their grandfather, passed over to their father, now it is the grand children who are managing the farm. They have about 2,000 herd of cattle supplying milk all the way from Maryland to South Carolina through Washington. They said they had never dreamt of looking for any Government employment. They are happy and comfortable in doing farming and they are earning a decent living. That is how I should be. However, in this part, even where you come from, cattle farming does not make people in Masailand smile. The income they are getting when they take their cows to the market and sell, does not make them to have smiles on their faces. As legislators and people’s representatives, we need to proactively do all we can to reform the sugarcane, tea, cotton and sisal industries, so that our farmers can start earning decent incomes from agriculture. Since we do not have jobs to offer to all the unemployed youth, we need to ensure that those who engage in farming get good returns. That way, we will keep populations away from our urban centres."
}