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{
    "id": 1279531,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1279531/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 588,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tinderet, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Julius Melly",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "This is a very important Bill that will put money in the pockets of farmers. I speak as a farmer and a representative of farmers from the sugar-growing region. I grew up throughout my childhood depending on sugarcane farming. This Bill seeks to take sugarcane farming back to where it was before. Sugarcane is a cash crop that has sustained many families until we established the AFFA. I commend the passing of Bills that have made other crops independent of AFFA. Tea and coffee have already left the control of AFFA. This AFFA was formed in 2013, but it did not take seriously the role of crop-based institutions like the sugar, tea, and coffee boards. This country can be a sugar exporter. We should not be a sugar importer. I thank His Excellency the President for recently leading the Cabinet to approve a leasing programme to modernise sugar factories. This will support the bottom-up approach because 14 million Kenyans depend on sugar directly or indirectly. If we seek employment for Kenyans, we need to modernise the sugar mills. If we are looking for money for pesa mfukoni, we should ensure enough mills, and we should pass this Bill to ensure that farmers have enough crops in their farms. I want to look at several clauses of the Bill. It brings order to the now chaotic sector, which is prone to poaching, theft, and disorder. The Bill proposes regions where mills will compete. My region has four main mills: Chemelil, Muhoroni, Miwani, and Kibos. They can compete within that particular region. We do not want to tie the farmer to one particular mill. But we also do not want the idea of farmers moving across from Western Kenya to other regions, or from the Coast to the Rift Valley, or from Transmara to Western. We want particular mills to operate in particular select regions. This Bill proposes the formation of a board. As we speak, AFFA has a board that has no interest in the farmer. They owe allegiance to different sectors. If you have a farmer elected as a director, they will listen to the farmer, who is the voter. There are certain amendments that I will propose to this provision. Such a director will propose farmer-friendly policies and disallow the Government from importing sugar. He will also ensure that the farmer gets subsidies and the Guaranteed Minimum Return (GMR) we need. I thank the Government for distributing fertilizer. Currently, most areas in my constituency, like Chemelil/Chemase Ward, which is almost 100 per cent sugarcane-growing area, have a lot of activities since farmers are in farms planting. In a very short time, we will have more than we require. This Bill also proposes a Sugar Development Levy. Sugarcane is the only crop that has been sustaining itself. The Government has been bailing out the tea and coffee industries. The Sugar Development Levy will be used to develop their roads, give loans to farmers and millers, and refurbish their factories. If millers want to refurbish or modernise their factories, they have a percentage in the Bill. You realise the tonnage ratio to the milled white sugar is very high. There is a lot of wastage. The President and the Government said that we needed to modernise all government mills and ensure they were running. We also have the establishment of the Kenya Sugar Research Institute. It will ensure we have a suitable variety, early maturing, and enough sucrose. This will enable the farmers to get value. This is why we introduced Cane Testing Unit (CTU). We do not want some corrupt private mills to tamper with the weighing scales. With the CTU, the farmer will be paid as per the sucrose content of his cane. There will be no issue where some millers or anybody will be corrupt and misuse the weighing scale. We also have the issue of the road network, which will be developed with the Sugar Development Levy. There were elections in many parts of Tinderet, in almost all the wards, where we were electing people who would take care of the money generated from the sugar cess. We also have the issue of crop inspectors. Every crop requires proper inspectors and officers who will tell the farmer the kind of fertiliser he will apply, the crop he is supposed to The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}