Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1463617,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1463617/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 530,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "have seen Hon. Jared Okello here. I have not seen Members from the Awendo Sugar Belt. Were farmers paid their outstanding dues? Probably not. So, they dispirit the farmer to proceed with sugarcane farming. Do we even have farmers in our financial institutions? We used to have Agricultural Finance Cooperation (AFC). Do they still fund farmers and give them farm equipment, farm inputs, and assist them in land preparation? The answer is no. I have been a valuer. One of the many valuations I did concerned foreclosure of farmers who took loans to invest in agriculture, but it failed because of poor management at the tail-end. Adverse weather conditions are also a contributing factor. This country must walk the talk. We are very good in political platitudes. We are very good when we are given microphones to speak. We keep on promising what we cannot do and ignore the people who make us what we are. We used to have the Kenya Sugar Industry Research Foundation, (KSREF) that was headquartered in Kibos. When the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) Act came into effect, all of them were collapsed. So, they abandoned research institutions that would have given us early maturing sugarcane varieties with high sucrose content. Yet, we have a full-fledged Ministry of Agriculture at the national level. We have 47 county governments that have a huge budget for agricultural extension officers. Yet, all that money only goes to pay personal emoluments. There is nothing that goes to develop and support the farmers. It is time we re-looked at these things in a completely different way. I hope our experts from Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) who have gone to assist where others were unable to work will, at least, inject some vibrance and use a new approach. We ask the appointing ‘power-that-be’ that the agriculture docket should be given to people who understand those things. It is shameful that cartels and sugar barons, who are known, will never allow the sugarcane subsector to expand. We hope that the Sugar Development Bill that we have just passed... Since we have made amendments here, we will have to go for mediation with our counterparts in the Senate. I implore the Senate that they need to go beyond pettiness and allow us to process the Sugar Bill into an Act of parliament as soon as it is practically possible. We have spoken a lot about sugarcane farming. The governors in sugar belt areas have had endless conferences in high-cost hotels, but ignoring the farmers who suffers the most. Where I come from, there is a sugar factory that is domiciled in Hon. Odanga's Constituency that has leased a whole chunk of land along the swamps to basically grow sugarcane. They have leased and so, that means that the small-scale farmer is no longer given consideration. The model is changing to leasing of parcels of land and amalgamation…."
}