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{
    "id": 1179475,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1179475/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 2788,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kesses, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Julius Rutto",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise at this late evening hour to support a very crucial Motion on the development of an Agricultural Policy. I am grateful that I am coming into leadership at a time when Kenya is rising again. This Policy is long overdue because Kenya is at a point that it needs to be defined well. The position of Kenya should be known. Other countries like Japan are known for production of Toyota cars. Germany is known for production of Mercedes Benz. Ford is known to come from America. Israel is known to be doing well in agriculture especially on matters of fruit production. What is Kenya known for? As we saw the other day when the statistics of the population were released, Kenya has a population of 50 million. That tells us that there are 50 million mouths to be fed. How are we going to match this need with an economic opportunity for Kenyans? Moreover, what are we advantaged in, comparative to other regional countries? I am in support of this Motion. That the Motion should come into force and give a clear direction of where we are and where we should be. That it is going to recollect our minds and bring us back to the long gone saying that stated, “ kilimo ni uti wamgongo wa uchumi wa chi ya Kenya”. That is where we need to go back to. The other day we were discussing the issue of land fragmentation. This is being intensified by the fact that agriculture has lost meaning because it is not paying back the farmers what they ought to be paid. The cost of investment does not equal the return on investment. Therefore, there is serious departure from farming to other sectors like real estate. This poses a challenge to agriculture because the hope of a land owner and the alternative of farming is construction of real estate. In the long run, real estate will never answer the first question of our livelihood, that is, food security. How are we going to implement agriculture as an economic activity to create employment and bring out industrialisation? This policy should guide and inform future decisions of the Government. I know right now county governments are working on the County Integrated Development Plans and the national Government is working on the Budget Policy Statements and Medium-Term Economic Plans. All these will help as towards achieving Vision 2030 goals which will be here in a few years and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), that our African region and the whole world is focusing on. I am happy that we are here today discussing the policy that is going to position us as a country. In this case, we need to look at this policy and expand it well to define the responsibility of all the actors in the sector. When we talk about agriculture, as my colleague has put it, we are looking at farming. We are looking at the middle processes that will be in place, such as trading, conversion and industrialisation up to the sector that deals with releasing food to the market, until it reaches the mouths of human beings. I support this Motion and call upon this policy to give and define responsibilities to all the actors that are the county governments, national government and research centres. The challenge farmers are going through now is getting quality seeds. There is no proper research to give us quality seeds that are disease resistant and that give maximum yields. Even the seed from our animal husbandry, the Artificial Insemination (AI) ensure maximum production compared to the feeds that our animals are being given. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I support this Motion and call upon the policy implementors to make sure that it does not stop at this House. We need to take this seriously, focus on our resource 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."
}