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{
    "id": 1183828,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1183828/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 236,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "The Mover of the Motion has identified why we are in this problem; why Kenya is not a food secure Nation. One, he has talked about inadequate rainfall. Two, decline in the number of farmers and farmland under cultivation. Incidentally, although he is from the Kenya Kwanza coalition, he has also cited the war in Ukraine. This is curious because when the former President, Uhuru Kenyatta mentioned that the war in Ukraine had a bearing on the prices and availability of food globally, it was the Kenya Kwanza coalition that rubbished him and said it was an excuse. Lastly, he has cited the high cost of inputs. We would want to have this conversation. In fact, if these are the reasons why we are in this position then we should be discussing solutions to all those problems that have been identified as the causes of food insecurity in this country. So, what were our proposals in the Azimio coalition? On the question of inadequate rainfall, it has now been acknowledged that because of the phenomena of climate change, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to rely on rain-fed agriculture because the weather patterns have changed so drastically that farmers can no longer predict with any certainty when it is going to rain or not and when to plant or not. We had proposed - as the Azimio coalition - to move away drastically from rain-fed agriculture and invest more in irrigation. We strongly spoke about the need for us to revive the major irrigation schemes including the Galana-Kulalu which we all know collapsed because of one thing only - corruption. This is why when we were campaigning, we came out very strongly on this issue of combating corruption because it rears its ugly head in all spheres of our lives. When it comes to the decline in the number of farmers and farmlands under cultivation, we should be encouraging people to engage in agriculture. However, what has happened in the past and even currently is that we continue to discourage people from engaging in agriculture as a commercial enterprise. As Sen. Mandago has said, this is not a hobby. There are people whose livelihoods depend on agriculture only. If you look at what is happening now; I compared what is going on in the country right now to a fight between farmers and traders. It is the traditional fight even within the sugar industry that has always been there between people who believe in honest work. You can spend six or eight months in a farm tending to your crops; an honest living where you earn the sweat of your brows and that at the end of that there is product to take to the market."
}