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{
    "id": 1472505,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1472505/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 201,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Githunguri, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Gathoni Wamuchomba",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. At the onset, I rise to support the Bill. This is a Bill that we have been waiting for as coffee farmers and as Members of Parliament who come from areas where coffee is grown. It is a Bill that some of us have spent a lot of time in the making. I remember we attended the Meru Coffee Conference to give our input on the formation of this Bill. I am very excited, Hon. Deputy Speaker, finally, this Bill has seen the light of day. I hope and sincerely trust that we will do all it takes to ensure the Coffee Bill becomes law. As a farmer, I celebrate the return of the institution that supported many farmers in research in the early 1980s, the late 1980s, the early 1990s, and up to 2003. This is when the Coffee Research Foundation was functional. This institution helped us develop the right breed and variety of coffee that is disease-resistant, less expensive for the farmers, and gives the best quality and resistance to many challenges. I am happy about the Coffee Research Institute and hope it will still be domiciled where the Coffee Research Foundation buildings are. I will be happy and excited if it is going to be domiciled there because most of the people who worked there were my voters from Githunguri. My constituency borders the institution, so I will be happy to see this institution domiciled at the border between Ruiru and Githunguri Constituencies. I am happy because, finally, coffee farmers will have seedlings and the research support needed to ensure that the varieties they plant are the right ones and will yield returns. I am also very excited because the Bill has proposed the return of the Coffee Board of Kenya. This institution excelled in coffee farming in Kenya in the late 1990s and early 2000s when our farmers earned a lot of money from the Coffee Board of Kenya's marketing activities. I am excited as a coffee farmer that this Coffee Board of Kenya will not only help us profile our coffee in the right way but also represent us ably in the international market platforms where we have failed to market our coffee. As a farmer, I am excited that introducing direct sales for Kenyan coffee farmers is now acceptable in law. The farmers who have the capacity to market their coffee directly will now be allowed by law, if this Bill becomes law, so that the farmers can experience the aspect and the pride of marketing their quality coffee anywhere in the world. I am also happy that the Direct Settlement System (DSS) has been entrenched in law by this Bill. This system will allow coffee farmers to receive their money from any sale directly into their account without going through a roundabout of many other intermediaries who take away farmers' money. Even as we welcome DSS, it is my sincere hope that we will also create a very transparent system of DSS so that we do not deduct farmers' money with many other unexplained deductions."
}