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{
    "id": 1371167,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1371167/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 160,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this Bill, which seeks to develop regulations on the coffee industry in Kenya. However, as I support this legislation, I would like us to reflect on the introduction of cash crops in our economy. One of the biggest problems we have as a country, in terms of looking at the laws we develop in this House, is that some of these laws we pass need to be designed to support local farmers. These Bills are intended to create products for other markets and not for food sustainability. I believe there will be a time when we will develop regulations that promote sustainability, cooperation and the building of consensus and synergies between the farmers, the Government, and the private sector as a country. One of my biggest pet peeves with cash crops is that we develop them to feed the overseas market. This is the way we have designed as a nation. I am one of the most prominent critics of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because of the dangers they are putting us through. The slavery tenancy they continue inculcating into our culture--- People have been talking about the coffee industry for many years. When I was growing up, the coffee industry supported the local communities. I was having a conversation with one of the clerks, and they told me, 'When farmers were growing coffee when the time came to pay them, some money would be set aside so that at the end of the financial year, these farmers are given money as a bonus. Some of this money would be from their kitty, money they saved to build sustainability. As I read through the memorandum and objects of reasons to this Bill, the regulations we want to develop to build the coffee industry, we must think outside the box. How do we build cooperative movements that will ensure that a poor farmer in Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Kitale Trans Nzoia and Narok counties can use that coffee plant, produce it locally, sell it, make money, but also be part of a Government initiative that"
}