HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1179424,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1179424/?format=api",
"text_counter": 2737,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Millie Odhiambo-Mabona",
"speaker": null,
"content": "One of the objectives that have been mentioned is that the policy seeks to transform crop, livestock and fish production. As a fisher woman, I want to talk to certain issues, but first of all, I just want to indicate that, as a country, we need to think about diversification. We are thinking the same way that we have thought over years and that is why, I think, Hon. Sunkuli was talking about Sessional Paper No 10. Many of us are still stuck. I think it was in 1965. I cannot remember when, but it was before I was born. If we are able to think about diversification… Like I saw at some point Nyeri people were being persuaded to eat fish, and they have actually started doing that very well. There is nothing stopping the people from my side of the world from embracing other things, including coffee. There are places in my area where coffee can do well, but because we do not think that way, sometimes, it is a problem. One of my classmates, Bernard Michael, wrote to me something and I want to think about it in terms of diversification and innovation. He said that he had an opportunity, a long time ago, to work in my constituency with Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). He said he had in mind the idea of introducing coconut, both as an economic crop as well as aesthetics along the lake shores which extends all the way from Ouru to Karachuonyo. The project was frustrated because it was supported by DANIDA and Ben left. If you look at some of the issues that he is raising, however, there are things that we do not normally think about. If you are talking about Homabay County, we are thinking about potatoes, fish and maize, when we can actually diversify to coconut. Some of the things that he is suggesting we look at is identification of existing trees, tree nurseries with sufficient water supply, coconut seedling propagation training, supply of coconut seeds and propagation, community sensitisation and dissemination of values of coconut distribution and field planting. These are even some of the things that you would look at in line with climate change. Planting coconut in areas like Homabay would actually help with that. Another issue that I did not hear the mention of is self-sufficiency. I am concerned about that because, on the one hand, you see the policy looking at food security but, at the same time, in terms of the actions that we are doing as a country, we are moving away from self-sufficiency by now looking at GMOs. If you want to go GMO way, we are moving away from self-sufficiency. If you want to be competitive as a country, we must have a competitive niche in our agriculture sector. We can only do that if we have control and not where we have a situation where in terms of even the crops and seedlings that we are going to use, we will still be looking at other countries. I would want to talk a little about the fishing sector. One of the things that we need to do after this Policy is to provide urgent regulations to reduce conflict in the Lake. There is a very serious conflict between omena and Nile perch fishers. Sometimes, they even threaten to kill each other. There is a lot of potential for conflict. There is also a very clear need for regulations around caging, which is also creating a lot of issues. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}