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{
    "id": 1505666,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1505666/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 282,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "take the approach that the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has taken, where distribution of fertilizer to tea farmers is not done by a central bureaucracy but is done through the tea factories. That should apply here, so that we do not have situations of those Linturi fertilizers finding their way in cotton farms and therefore compromising the output of our cotton farmers. I support this. There are many things I would have said about this, but ultimately as a country, we need to find those things that we are good at and invest in them. Cotton would be one of those things. Coffee and tea are already those things. Let us take advantage of the things that we are good at and project ourselves as a leader in those areas. If the Independence fathers were able to make cotton a valuable product, if entire economies, like in Western and Ukambani, and even parts of Tana River County would enable parents to take their children to school on the basis of cotton earnings 30 or 40 years ago; what about today when you have better technology, better varieties, better breeds and a bigger population that can provide a market for our cotton? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this should not be seen as another process of import substitution, but in our minds, we must prepare ourselves that we will still need to compete with the best when it comes to the cotton, textiles and apparel sector. Vietnam, Lesotho and even Botswana are countries that have made this a comparative advantage. We must be ready to compete with them. Let us not cheat our farmers that we will shield them from the vagaries of globalization. They must fight, they must find their space within the global markets, because producing cotton is one thing, connecting the farmer to markets is another. We must encourage them to grow cotton in Kendu Bay, Kitui and Busia counties, but connect them to global markets the way the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) opportunity has presented itself to us. We should ask ourselves that if AGOA was to collapse, what are we going to do with Athi River? Can we find alternative markets? I believe we can find alternative markets, but we must fix our labour practices. Countries that have succeeded in the apparel sector also have tried to regulate the cost of labour. In Kenya, we are very litigious and we will always be talking of a certain minimum wage, but we are also putting in a lot of payroll taxes that then make the Kenyan worker more expensive. Some of these big corporations are happier to go to Bangladesh, to Pakistan and those other economies. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support and I look forward to the enactment of this law and also to the day when the cotton farmers of Homa Bay and Nyanza are going to start having money in their bank accounts. I thank you."
}