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{
    "id": 1284812,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1284812/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 161,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sigowet/Soin, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Justice Kemei",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "we do not expect the mills to process the cane and lead to better recoveries. When we look at the sugar industry in this country, we are one of the highest-cost producers in the whole world. Sugar is produced at about US$700 per metric tonne in Kenya, while in countries like Brazil, the production cost is US$300 per metric tonne. When you come to the COMESA region, countries like Zambia and Swaziland produce sugar at about US$400 per metric. We must strive to be an efficient producer of sugar as a nation. We consume a million metric tonnes of sugar and produce about 700,000 metric tonnes. That deficit of 300,000 metric tonnes has made this country spend its meager dollar resources on sugar importation. We spoke to the farmers, and we must be true to them. They said they would follow us until we discuss this issue in Parliament. One of the most emotive issues has been land. They said that when the Government implements the lease model, land that initially belonged to people must revert to its original owners. I believe that the joint Committee has given due regard to this so that at the end of the expiry period of 20 years, the land is reverted to the original owners. As a country, we want to give the private sector the ability to run the cane industry to make it meaningful to our people. As we do that, we need to prepare our farmers so that at the end of the day, they are able to carry on as actual owners of the mills that we have in this country. They gave us the Kenya Tea Development Agency model and said that over time, they should be able to man the mills themselves. Finally, we have been sitting on knowledge from our research institution, the Kenya Research Institute. The institute has developed varieties with a very high sucrose content and pollen cane that we should get our farmers to grow. In terms of sharing the proceeds between the farmer and the mills, the Kenya Research Institute's formula is the best way to make our farmers adopt better sucrose content cane and earn a better living out of them. With those few remarks, I support the Memorandum."
}