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{
"id": 1157581,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1157581/?format=api",
"text_counter": 329,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": "It is stated here that the inspector is supposed to carry out inspection and inquiries as the person may deem necessary for ascertaining whether the provision of this Act or the terms and conditions of the respective licenses are being complied with. Sen. Farhiya, it does not make sense. You will have to look at this and tell us what it means. It goes on to state that it may require any person found thereon to give such information as the person may require. That is information about what? If you are a crop inspector, you can go to somebody’s house and require information, but you are not saying the information they will require. It is stated that for purposes of this Act, the inspector may, at any reasonable time, enter upon any land, premises or vehicle. What will they be doing in a vehicle? Unless you are talking of trucks for transporting cane and so on. I find that out of place and it needs to be relooked. The most important part in this Bill, apart from establishing the Board, is the establishment of the Kenya Sugar Research Institute. If we do not embrace science, research and development, then we are unlikely to grow this sector. In places like Mauritius and the Caribbean where we have Jamaica, Bahamas and Puerto Rico, they have developed cane varieties that mature at 11, 12 or 13 months. Our cane crop in Kenya matures at 24 months at the very minimum. That means that a farmer cannot get proper benefits. Remember, if you have 20 acres all under cane, it means you do not have anything left for food production. You cannot plant bananas, potatoes, sukuma wiki or tomatoes and you cannot grow maize. It means that your turnover from this crop must be in real record time for you to have money in your pocket. That is pesa mfukoni, a Kenya Kwanza slogan. You must have pesa mfukoni to feed you family. You need money to buy a bunch of bananas from your neighbour or a sack of potatoes. The chain of money movement in society works that way. It you put your 20 acres under cane for 36 months - sometimes it takes long before they harvest - how will you have pesa mfukoni ? Our Bottom-Up Economic Structure will put serious emphasis on research, so that we have early maturing varieties with proper sucrose content. You can have a lot of cane with little sucrose content. It means when you take it to the factory, there is hardly any sugar coming out of it. You can also have a big farm, but when you harvest, because of the variety, the weight of your cane is light and you are being paid in terms of the tonnage. We need to have proper research, so that we have the sucrose content, maturity period and weight of the cane that will benefit the farmer. The weight benefits the farmer while the sucrose content benefits the miller. At the end, it will be a win-win for everybody. We should have proper research. In this regard, the money for the Kenya Sugar Research Institute should not be limited to the Sugar Development Levy alone. The national Government must invest in serious research, not only in sugar, but also in potato, maize, soya beans, beans and rice production and other crops, so that we can be self- sufficient in food production and distribution to ensure we have enough food for every"
}