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{
    "id": 1505664,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1505664/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 280,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for your generosity. I come from a cotton growing zone. I am a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is synonymous with the history of cotton growing in my region. When a pioneer Adventist pastor called Pastor Carscallen introduced the Adventist Church, he also introduced modern schools and modern medicine. It does not mean we did not have medicine. He, however, brought in the modern pharmaceuticals. He also introduced cotton as a cash crop. Over the years, the Rachuonyo region and the area around Kendu Bay was founded on the wealth and the riches of cotton. Today, Kendu Bay is a shell. It is a pale shadow of itself because the cotton industry collapsed in the 1980s as a result of the structural adjustment programmes. As you drive around Nyanza, Western and even Ukambani, there are centres that are called store pamba, meaning that is where the warehouse, the aggregation centre for cotton was located. Those store pambas are all over on the main highways from Homa Bay to Kisumu. It tells you how valuable that industry was back in the days. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the production of cotton is not where it should be. It has averaged at about 25,000 metric tons over the years, but is now about 7,000 tons versus a potential of 200,000 tons. There are many factors. There was liberalisation, the structural adjustment programmes (SAPS) and also the issue of mitumba, which then led to inflows of second-hand clothes that competed with the locally produced fabric and textile. There is also the issue of the quality of seed. There has been debate on whether Bollgard Cotton (BT) should be allowed and the jury is still out there. I do not know whether we are making the right decision. The right decision must be adoption of seed and technology that is pest-resistant. Growing up, cotton growing was a very labor-intensive activity. There are certain factors of production that may have changed and shifted our comparative advantage as a country. Land is not as big as it was back then. Families are not as big as they were back then. Polygamy thrived because when you were a polygamous man with a huge cotton farm, you had an entire army that would go out to the field to work on the cotton farms and harvest the farm. Indeed, you will notice that one of the things that fueled slavery in the United States of America (USA) and other countries was cotton production because it was extremely labor-intensive. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}