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{
    "id": 1371171,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1371171/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 164,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "further. We need to go to Trans Nzoia County and ask for the coffee farmers' database. If we have this database, anybody else who wants to farm coffee can be registered in the database and be assisted by the cooperative. Two, another thing that I am not seeing here is that we need to ensure food security and sustainability. The reason why I am not seeing it here is because of the issue of setting up a board. Agriculture is devolved in this country. The framers of the Constitution were very clear. They wanted food security, sustainability and for us to develop our agricultural sector. The only way to do that is to ensure that we develop clear guidelines and regulations for coffee production, processing and marketing from county to county. We do not do this often, but I will be very happy to go to Nairobi Show or another big show to see coffee from Narok, Kitale, Nyeri or Thika and people competing based on that. In my view, those regulations cannot be uniform. The only time you make them uniform is when you want to dance to the tune of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the outside world that wants you to continue feeding them and not really focusing on your own environment. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we need to encourage research. I am happy that one of the objects of this Bill is to change the Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) to Coffee Research Institute (CRI). Yes, let us set up this research. I love that, but can it be informed by the different environments? We have seen coffee houses being established as big businesses in this country. It just started a decade ago. If we are not careful, those coffee houses will profit the multinational corporations who own them. I dare say right now that the two big coffee houses that we have in this country are owned by multinational corporations. This is because, we have failed to educate or illuminate to the public how important coffee is. However, there might be a small part of ownership that is owned by local people. In terms of this research, I wish there would be some universities that will take it up because they care about what we can gain. They can make sure that there is a small research institute to know whether we can market our coffee effectively by blending different beans. For example, we can even start with a blend from Trans Nzoia and Narok beans grown under different environments. We can blend beans from other areas such as the Rift Valley, sell them and make money just like what the tea industry has done in this country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I know you are an advent traveler. However, when you go to these big hotels, you will find Kenyan tea, but it is not marketed as Kenyan tea. It is actually marketed as another brand, for example, Lipton. This research institute that I support entirely, must now start to look at what it will take us to take the beans from Trans Nzoia and blend with beans from Mt. Kenya Region. Some of my friends in Trans Nzoia have big farms where they grow coffee. One of the reasons I am also in support of this Bill is because these regulations that we are talking about must clearly define the pricing mechanism to use to market our"
}