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{
    "id": 1525603,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1525603/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wamatinga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13582,
        "legal_name": "Wahome Wamatinga",
        "slug": "wahome-wamatinga"
    },
    "content": "enough income, but most importantly, ensure that we produce products that are processed and value added in a way that they become competitive in the foreign market. Madam Speaker, the world is becoming a global village. Therefore, the crops that are produced in Kenya, the same are produced in Peru and Brazil. How do we then make our products more competitive? If you go into a supermarket in Tokyo, you will buy a packet of macadamia. Just by the way, it is packaged; you will have a feeling that this is more valuable. Only for you to read the packaging and see that, that is a product of Kenya, but it was exported, processed and then packaged there. It is the high time now that we started leveraging the technology that is available so that we can ensure that our products get maximum profit and they are able to compete globally. As we do so, it must never be lost to us that the potential that we have as a country does not only lie in the Western countries, but within the African region. Just the other day I was in Angola and I realized the potential we have to sell our dairy product there is enormous. I was also in Ghana. I saw that the potential that we have to sell our Kenyan tea there, is enormous. What we need to do is to divorce ourselves from being dependent on the dollar because I keep on asking myself, why does Kenya need to have dollars to be able to trade with Uganda? Why do we need to have dollars to be able to trade with Tanzania? It is the high time; within the East African region, the SADC and the Great Lakes Region, that we came up with a mechanism that will enable us to trade without overly relying on the so- called dollars. By so doing, we limit our opportunities. We make ourselves very vulnerable to external shocks because the shortage of dollars in the American market will mean that it will affect our economy directly. As I wind up, I challenge us all. It is the high time now we divorced ourselves from the toxic politics that we have been pushing and say that we must integrate this country in a way that we will be able to trade with our neighbours. We must ensure that the products that are produced in this country are not only competitive regionally, but also globally. That is why we must ensure that the younger generation, the Gen Zs of this country start to embrace the idea of agri-preneur which is leveraging the current technology with the trends across the globe. I might not finish what I wanted to contribute because of time. As I talk about advancing agriculture and creating industries and opportunities for our young people, we should also invest in their education. If we do so, they will do research and come with new varieties of crops that will withstand the climatic conditions. It must never be lost to us that the climatic conditions have changed. The pests that we had 20 years ago have changed. They have genetically modified themselves and are now resistant to some of the pesticides that we use. It is high time for us to leverage our technology with the modern technology."
}