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{
    "id": 1183861,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1183861/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Tobiko",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "where people came out and discussed what to do with the livestock and livestock products including hides and skins. Today, we should be carrying leather handbags and having leather shoes coming from our own livestock instead of wasting such valuable products. In the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASL) areas, if we get fair water provision, I am sure, Kajiado County today could feed Nairobi because we have the land, a fair environment and good sunshine. All that we need is water so that production id done and we will be feeding Nairobi and this country. I have listened to my colleagues and come to love the debate in this House. This is because, when a Senator talks from one corner and another one from the other corner, it shows and reflects the diversity of our country. Sen. Cherarkey who will be speaking about a lot of surplus of maize at the moment that is being produced. You will find some from a different direction like some of us coming from places that are facing serious food scarcity. When we blend and bring the discussion here, I am sure we will to get to give direction to this country. We will discuss and agree on what is the best way forward. I did not want to engage myself in the debate on the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) because at the moment. I am doing serious research on it and will engage myself when I have all facts on my fingertips. When I was listening to my colleagues, I realised that there is a problem. Here we have an issue of plenty verses scarcity. When you talk to a hungry man who has no food on the table, whether it is GMO or whatever, beggars are not choosers. A hungry person will not choose. I do not know whether the issue is only in farming produce – whether it is only the maize that is GMO. There are a lot of other things that we consume in this country including medication. You go to a chemist and you are told that a certain medicine is generic and this one is not. One is more expensive than another. It is you to make a choice. On the chicken that we are consuming in hotels in Nairobi we are told one is kienyeji and the one is a broiler. It is for you to choose. The story of GMO or not GMO is neither here nor there. When there is hunger, when you see a child in Turkan and we have seen them in the media being carried because that cannot walk, would you tell that person not to consume this food because it is GMO? The first thing we owe Kenyans is that there should be food and food production. Yes, we can produce organically. There is a lot of manure from our lands and that will be gold to us. We will sell to these counties that are producing maize instead of fertilizers. As we sale the manure to them, they produce for us the maize but we should not burry our heads in the sand just because we are full and expect a hungry person to be choosing that one is GMO or not. I support the development of livestock feeding programmes in ASAL regions. We have seen the livestock dying. Government intervenes to cushion coffee farmers when they have problems and when tea farmers are not having a good market. We expect the same Government of Kenya to cushion the livestock farmers."
}