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{
"id": 1569671,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569671/?format=api",
"text_counter": 139,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The Bill goes further to identify the various players in the agricultural sector, who are each given roles. We need to ask ourselves where Kenya wants to go. If we look at the current Government's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, six out of the nine priority value chains are in agriculture. Those value chains include beef, dairy, leather, rice and coffee. Targets have been set for those value chains. To improve coffee production to meet our quota, we must open up more land to grow coffee and intensify coffee production. That cannot be done by smallholder farmers without appropriate information. They need to understand how to test soils and identify the kind of fertiliser required for optimal productivity. Farmers also need to know when to spray, for what reason, to protect their crops from which insects or pests, and from which diseases. They must understand how to regulate their activities, and for that to happen, they need proper advice. The only mechanism available for advising farmers is through extension services. If there is a function that is consistently cited as having failed in this country, it is the extension service. Everyone who speaks about it refers to it in the past tense. They do not describe an elaborate or functioning system today. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that after the implementation of the 2010 Constitution and the creation of county governments, with agriculture devolved, the responsibility shifted. Staff from the previous system were inherited, many of whom have since upgraded their qualifications from certificate to diploma, degree, and even master's level. As a result, they may no longer be available to provide services at the grassroots level. Previously, extension was organised so that a certificate-level officer would be stationed at the unit level. The country was divided into agricultural extension units. At the locational level, there would typically be a diploma holder coordinating these officers, and at the district level, there was an extension advisor or officer coordinating district activities. That system worked well because information flowed both ways and farmers received timely advisory support. Today, farmers are largely on their own. This Bill seeks to re-focus efforts and place advisory services back at the centre of agricultural development. It is not possible for farmers to produce better or increase productivity without access to such services. Not all farmers are well-informed. While we may say most of our farmers have gone to school, schooling is different from receiving specific, thematic agricultural advice. This Bill, therefore, aims to reform and revitalise extension services. The final part of the Bill addresses the financing mechanism. It proposes government support to the extension service and the establishment of a dedicated fund to sustain these services. We acknowledge that creating such a fund is not easy, especially for a system that does not currently generate any levies. However, it is possible to introduce levies for extension services. That said, we cannot begin charging for extension services abruptly. We must be organised. Several services in the agricultural sector have been commercialised before farmers were adequately prepared. One example is the tick control system, where government-managed cattle dips once helped control tick infestations. The Government supplied acaricides and managed the dips. Another example is the commercialisation of clinical services for livestock, again without properly preparing the farmers. Therefore, if we are to commercialise extension services, we must proceed with caution. The process must be well managed, and the transition The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}