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{
"id": 1525584,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1525584/?format=api",
"text_counter": 250,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13162,
"legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
"slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
},
"content": "County, they go to an FTC, so that they can start a poultry project, which then collapses once their pension runs out. It should target young people. Madam Temporary Speaker, the fishermen in my area are still using traditional hunting and gathering techniques. They are investing nothing in the lake, but expecting that, at the end of the day, they will have a full catch. It has been like that for thousands if not millions of years That has been how humanity has approached fishing. They believe that God has put fish in the lake, rivers and streams, and our job is to go there with a hook and catch. However, recently, an American investor called Victory Farms came up with cage fish farming, putting cages in the lake that we have had for millions of years. He put fish in those cages in the lake, giving them food and controlling the environment in which they thrive. Today, Victory Farms is generating Kshs5 billion gross revenue in a year in a far corner of Suba. Almost the same revenue that the County Government of Homa Bay has at its disposal. Why? They brought innovation, science, technology and people who had been taken to school to study how fish breeds, grows and how it can be taken care of. We must bring back farmers training colleges. Planting of maize is not just something you wake up and do. In my community, we would of course plough the fields with oxen ploughs. That in itself is an art. To manage six cows tethered on a yoke, pulling one plough and to be able to do that with straight lines for acres upon acres, those were traditional techniques, which I do not know who will teach them. Perhaps mechanisation has made it obsolete. Madam Temporary Speaker, when I go to the village, I am told that the farms that were tilled using tractors tend to turn the soil too deep. As a result, it brings up certain pests that are buried further down. Our people have got very interesting knowledge. They will tell you this farm was ploughed using a tractor, this farm was ploughed using an ox. Now, the skills of oxen ploughing are virtually dead. I do not think it used to be taught in farmers' training colleges. Now, after you have ploughed your farm, we would then plant seed, and that seed would not come from a shop. The seed would be the residue from the last harvest. What our people would do is if you got a good crop, you would choose the biggest corn or the biggest ears of maize, then you would dry it and put ash on it. Then you would stick it on the roof which was a grass-thatched. Particularly where there is a kitchen, so that for the entire year, the smoke would bellow, that seed would harden, and it would not be attacked by weevils or any other pests, so that the next season, you could plant it. There are now innovations. There are now seeds that can grow in different areas, but our people do not have the knowledge because they do not have access to farming training and innovations that they are supposed to get through the county governments. Once you have planted the seed, you come back to weed your farm, and you find your farm has the beautiful purple foliage of a weed called striga. There is no other weed that is as beautiful, but as damaging as striga. The striga weed, just like the MLND that we are discussing right now, affects Bomet and Homa Bay counties. However, one other big pest that we have to contend with in our regions is that very beautiful purple flower. When you are driving past or 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."
}