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"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
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"content": "I would like to encourage young people, who are following this discussion live on the broadcasting channels or in the Speaker’s gallery. From where I come, I know of youth as young as 20 years who are accomplished, farmers. Let us not reduce farming to retirement. The average age of a farmer is 60 years. We need to relook, rethink and encourage smart farming. Yesterday the Cabinet Secretary in charge of agriculture was in the Senate and we were discussing smart farming. In our time, during the 8-4-4 curriculum there were 4K-Clubs that were encouraging agriculture. The Curriculum Based Competencies and the reforms within the curriculum should include the 4K-Clubs to ensure young people appreciate agriculture. The future dollar millionaires in Africa and across the world are in farming. I know because I come from a region of farmers. The people who attend harambees, give proper money and are respected, are majorly farmers. This is because there is no day you will fail to eat something at least from morning to evening. Agriculture employs over 40 per cent of our population. From where I come, you will see milk being taken from places like Elchegoo. You need somebody who will milk the cows, the person who will transports and the seller of the milk. You can imagine the value chain from the time the milk is produced to the time of consumption. About 40 per cent of Kenya’s population which is 53.1 million as per 2019 population census, are employed in the agricultural sector. With the introduction of aggregation centres and investing in the mung beans by creating a legal framework, we are able to increase the number of farmers in the country for example, in Kitui County where Sen. Wambua comes from. They depend on farming and can bring employment to the locals. Agriculture creates opportunities for 70 per cent of the population in the rural areas. About 70 percent of people in rural areas depend on agriculture. When you visit such areas, you will find somebody owning a cow, planting maize, mung beans, macadamia and cotton. I was shocked to learn that Lamu County is one of the leading counties in the production of cotton alongside Busia and other counties. Yet, Lamu County does not have a cotton ginnery that can process cotton. Agriculture cannot go unnoticed. On the issue of implementation of regulation, we need to agree on the role of the County Executive Committee Member (CECM). Agriculture is fully devolved. I wanted to ask the Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations to seize this matter. There was the Senate and the Council of Governors consultation that happened in Naivasha. Some of us attended remotely. We need to define the functions that need to be devolved and calculate the cost. We also need to look at functions that go back to the national Government. Agriculture is a fully devolved function. It is only the policy-making that you can be retained at the level of national Government. With those many remarks, I want to congratulate Sen. Wambua. In the spirit of congratulating, I congratulate Members of the National Assembly from the Kenya Kwanza Coalition for passing the Finance Bill yesterday evening. The Finance Bill has been passed; the Budget has been read. We need to mop up resources and ensure some go to the production of mung beans. I want to assure Sen. Wambua that the increment of"
}