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{
    "id": 1565377,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1565377/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 62,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wamatinga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13582,
        "legal_name": "Wahome Wamatinga",
        "slug": "wahome-wamatinga"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, as it has been ably presented by my Chair, it is not lost to us that there has been a lot of exploitation of the coffee farmers by cartels because of complicated marketing structures that this Bill seeks to address. On top of that, the Bill is also seeking to mainstream, by creation of a board, that will ensure that the farmers get not only their due share of the coffee returns, but also do not get exploited by the cartels. It is quite unfortunate that in this time and age, we need to regulate even the marketing and auctioning of coffee. Those of us who are exposed to information technology know that you do not need to have an office or a licence to buy anything from Amazon. This is one of the approaches that we will use to ensure that coffee farmers sell their crop where they want, when they want and at a price that they have agreed on. Moreover, we know that most of the coffee farmers who have sold their crop have to wait for so long to get paid. Therefore, they do not get money to till their farms. This Bill seeks to address some of these shortcomings and, therefore, encourage coffee farming. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as we do so, I urge my colleagues, especially those that come from coffee farming areas, that it is now time we start talking to coffee farmers. We know that the average age of coffee farmers is 50 years and above. Therefore, we need to get a strategy of mainstreaming the young generation, so that we do not have a gap when these ageing farmers exit the market. That said, it must also be pointed out that the unfortunate practice of subdividing pieces of land into small segments has also made coffee farming quite unproductive. Achieving economies of scale, when you are tilling very small pieces of land is something that is becoming a major challenge. It has also become a major challenge for the farmers to access the markets that they would want to sell their coffee to because of the reducing volumes from each factory. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as we talk about improving the regulations around the Coffee Bill and mainstreaming the young generation towards coffee farming, we must also be quite intentional in addressing value addition so that we do not only sell coffee as beans, but also as a finished product. This will ensure that we create employment within the coffee sector along the value chain and most importantly, Kenyans will enjoy one of the best qualities of coffee in the world. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to Second."
}