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{
    "id": 132310,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/132310/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 399,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 122,
        "legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
        "slug": "patrick-olweny"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I rise to support the Vote of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Minister for Agriculture is making good efforts. We know that this country today is in a serious food security crisis. The situation became more serious in recent times. Therefore, the effort that the Ministry is making, particularly in subsidizing farm inputs, should be applauded. In that case, the Government should keep trying. As my colleagues have said, this Ministry should be given more funds.It should be given adequate support. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I would suggest to the Ministry that other inputs should also be subsidized, particularly crop protection chemicals. If the Government allows, we should give the Ministry more money so as to subsidize some of these inputs. Today, the Minister has told us that we will put more land under irrigated farming. I wish to agree with the Chairman of the departmental Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperatives that the irrigation sub-sector is in the wrong docket. We said this during the last Parliament when irrigation was moved from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. It is in the wrong docket. I do not know how this can be sorted out. The Minister for Agriculture sits in the Cabinet. That is where they make all the key decisions. He should propose this idea there, so that he brings that sub-sector to the right place. We are talking of irrigation, but where is the water? Where will we get the water? Kenya is a seriously water-deficit country. All the natural water catchment areas are gone. We are virtually living in a dying country. The country is dying. Every single day, we are shown pictures of dying animals. Every single day, we see pictures of seriously starving Kenyans because of lack of water. Egypt can only do irrigation along the River Nile where the water is. Of course, the water comes from Eastern Africa. Once the few rivers that are left dry out, how shall we do our irrigation? When leaders are crying: “Please, let us conserve what God gave us. Let us make sure we get back our forests---“ Trees make forests, but a few trees will not give you a forest. It is the forests that help in creating water, not just a few isolated trees. A few isolated trees will just allow all that water to rush down into the lake and be lost through evapo-transpiration. It is the forest that allows for infiltration of rain water which comes into springs, rivers and also gives us the evapo-transpiration water which then turns into rain. All these forests are gone and we are talking about irrigation. Let us have a second thought about it. When will we get water for irrigation? In the next 20 years, there will be no more water if we do not do something about the situation."
}