Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1281150,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1281150/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1190,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John K. Mutunga",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "will go to the research station, which we have renamed the Kenya Sugar Research Institute in this legislation. Another 15 per cent will go to the management or, rather, the issues of the Kenya Sugar Board. Another 15 per cent will go towards factory rehabilitation and modernisation. Ten per cent will go to infrastructural development. Hon. Temporary Speaker, let me explain how we have structured the infrastructural development aspect in this Bill. The Kenya Sugar Board or the county authorities - that is, the county governments - will have no business in handling this money. After collection, it will be transferred directly to the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA). They will use their mechanisms of development to utilise the money to develop the areas where this money was collected. If we collect levy from Kakamega County, 15 per cent will be used to construct the roads there. This Bill proposes enforcing the cane contract to ensure that farmers and millers respect it. Previously, neither of the parties has been serious about respecting contracts. Sometimes, farmers would sell sugarcane to anybody who approached them at a good price. We want the sugar millers to respect the contracts they enter into with farmers so that once farmers are engaged in cane development, they can do serious cane development. If a miller has developed cane in a certain area, then that cane must be consumed or processed by that miller. The penalties that have been put in this legislation will restrict any cane selling through dubious methods. Hon. Temporary Speaker, another issue that has come up is the possibility of using the Cane Testing Units (CTUs). The CTUs are big investments that this country has made. We have put up about 11 testing units in 11 milling plants. The CTU enables farmers to sell their sugar using sucrose content. Sucrose content is the sugar within a cane plant, giving the farmer more money. They have not been appropriately sensitized about CTUs nor used them. Yet, the CTUs are just investments within the sugar factories and need to be used so that farmers can benefit. The idea is to benefit the farmer and other value chain actors without any form of mismanagement. Another important issue is managing the investments within the sugar industry. Investments are required at all levels of the sugar industry, especially at the farm level. Where the farm sizes have reduced, we must get high-yielding varieties. That is why we have proposed revitalising the Sugar Research Institute to get better cane varieties that mature faster and have higher sucrose contents so that farmers can benefit. Hon. Temporary Speaker, the cost of production in the sugar industry is high. I want to take a few minutes to discuss the cost of production. One of the reasons why it is high is that the inputs are costly. The fertilisers are costly. Other operations within the production process are costly. The number of times you must weed your farm translates into high production costs. There are also high operation costs in terms of the firepower that is used, the fuel itself by these processors, and the taxes and licenses are also expensive. The other issue is that most of the public mills are obsolete. They use obsolete technology. The technology used by the millers needs to be replaced with modern technology. The processors being used currently are old and outdated. They consume a lot more than they give a mechanical advantage. We need more efficient machines to increase the turnover within the milling plant. Hon. Temporary Speaker, another issue is the high cost of farm inputs. We know that fertiliser is used and is expensive. We know the other inputs are also expensive. Extension services are not very much available. What we have done deliberately is to ensure that the research institute has an arm of training so that it can provide farmers with necessary messages to enable them to increase production and productivity. Another issue is poor networking within the sugar sector. There is a lot of suspicion. We have gone to all the regions. We have seen more than 11 or 12 factories. We have seen 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."
}