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{
    "id": 1180130,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1180130/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 188,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kesses, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Julius Rutto",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. Allow me to take this opportunity to thank the Leader of Majority Party for the good work he has done. He has actually demonstrated that we have a Government which can listen to the plea of the people. The ultimatums that were given as of last week threw farmers into a ring of anxiety. While at home over the weekend, there were a lot of unanswered questions from farmers as to what would happen to their produce. As Hon. Milly Odhiambo said, some farmers were expressing their frustrations. This good answer settles the anxiety of farmers and gives hope that the cereal will be offloaded to the market. However, the Government has not specified modalities to facilitate the actual mopping up of the maize crop from farmers, meaning that farmers have been left to the mercy of traders and millers, and to the forces of supply and demand. I foresee a situation where businesspeople will maximise their profits and spread thin the profits of farmers far below their expectations. What mechanism is the Government going to employ to support farmers in terms of mopping up the maize from the market? Is the Government planning to open up the National Cereals and Produce Board silos so that they offload the produce to areas of need? At the moment, the level of trade is very low. The traders can decide to go slow on purchasing of local maize and wait until February to take advantage of the cheap duty-free imports and in the long-run succeed in their businesses at the expense of farmers. My follow up request to the Leader of Majority Party is, probably, the Cabinet Secretary should expound to Kenyans and farmers not only in the North Rift Region, but also to those in the South Rift Region that, indeed, the Government is taking a direction that is going to support them and ensure that whatever farmers have in their stores, and what they are harvesting, is going to reach the market within that given time frame."
}