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{
    "id": 1252585,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1252585/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 581,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "For instance, I remember very well, when we had COVID-19 in 2020, the people who sustained this economy were the 4.5 million small-scale farmers. Among those, 3.5 million were involved directly in the production of food crops in this country. About 600,000 of those were pastoral communities. About 130,000 were further engaged in other means of production that help in bolstering the food basket of this country. If these are the people we want to help critically, this Bill must then go into why the agricultural extension workers are not in the counties. We should answer that question in this Bill. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I encourage my sister, Sen. Tabitha Mutinda, to focus on the areas of productivity and yields, the issue of growing income, improving standards of living of these small-scale farmers, and more importantly, the idea of aggregating their immense potential. For that to happen, I would have wished that this Bill focusses more on these extension workers, to solve what has been the core challenges to the so-called agricultural extension workers. Senator, as you look into this together with the Committee, the first thing I want you to address is the idea of job satisfaction. The issue of job satisfaction starts with the issue of clarity with regard to the income that agricultural extension workers should get. Right now, this country is discussing the Finance Bill in the National Assembly. We know that agriculture is absolutely devolved. If you were to take a county such as Migori County today and give agricultural extension workers even Kshs20,000 as a stipend, so that they can work for these small-scale farmers, and you aggregate it in the 40 wards of Migori County, you will only need Kshs38 million to make sure that Migori County has enough extension workers. If you extrapolate that and say that you want to give that to the 47 counties, you will only need Kshs1.6 billion to give all counties agricultural extension officers. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is unfortunate that even as we speak right now, we do not have that. If you look at the Finance Bill today, the State Department for Livestock is getting about Kshs18 billion. The Blue Economy and Fisheries is getting about Kshs11 billion. The State Department of Crop Development is getting Kshs46 billion. A whopping Kshs77 billion is going to the national Government for a function that is fully devolved into the counties. These are the areas that I wish my sister, Sen. Tabitha Mutinda, can clarify with regard to the issue of job satisfaction. Secondly, I would wish that as the Senator reviews this particular ---"
}