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{
    "id": 1459611,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1459611/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John K. Mutunga",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "When it comes to foreign direct investment, our investment proposals are not a lot more in declaring the amount, quality and place of produce because we are not organised. We do not have credible data of what we produce. We need to invest in serious data capture and revision to know exactly what, where and when it is produced to help our farmers. On the other hand, I laud the fact that we have embarked on sugar reforms. I want to speak on selling sugarcane through sucrose content. Sucrose content is the amount of sugar in the sugarcane. We should be paying farmers for that. We have the Sugar Research Institute (SRI) that has produced 27 varieties. The varieties have not moved from the research institute. They are still there. They need to move out of there. Investment in that sector regards movement of these varieties out of the research institutes to multiplication centres where we shall get enough to give or sell to farmers so that they produce high yielding varieties. Some of these varieties can mature in eight months. Others can mature in about one year. The varieties that we have mature in about 24 months. That means we need two years to plant and harvest cane. For us to multiply production and even stop importation of sugar, we need to take up these new varieties. We can have the time required on the farm and produce twice in a year if the varieties mature in nine to 12 months. That will help us increase sugar production. We shall cap importation and the need for the dollar in importation. That way, sucrose-based Cane Testing Units (CTUs) become useful—selling sugarcane with due respect to measuring sugar content. The varieties produced by the SRI are very high in sucrose content. That means we can go the CTU way. We have invested in CTUS in about 11 of our 15 processing plants. We need to invest in the others. We also need a policy direction to weigh or sell sugar in terms of sucrose content."
}