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{
    "id": 152953,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/152953/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 210,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "May 20, 2009 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 619 Mr. Samoei",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for tea and coffee farmers, my Ministry is engaged in a program of branding our tea and coffee. We want to ensure that when you walk into a supermarket in Europe or America, you can get Kenyan tea and coffee brands. That is opposed to what is going on now where our coffee and tea, which is of very high quality and premium, is used to blend low quality tea from other regions like Sri Lanka and India to the detriment of our farmers and to the benefit of farmers who produce low quality tea. That is one step that we are taking and we are at an advanced stage of creating a Kenyan brand of tea and coffee. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are also looking at minimizing or reducing the cost of production. This year, we have initiated a partnership between my Ministry and the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) to import fertilizer. It is my position that the fertilizer that was brought into this country for use by tea growers should have been in the region of Kshs1,700 and Kshs2,000 per bag. I hope the KTDA management, because they pulled out of the program that we had under the Ministry of Agriculture, will not exploit farmers by charging them higher costs of fertilizer. My Ministry is keeping a keen watch on the activities of KTDA in terms of reducing the cost of inputs, so that we can enhance the margins for farmers as a means of making both coffee and tea growing a profitable enterprise."
}