Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1569706,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569706/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 174,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "allowances to go to the field nor given cars, bicycles or motorcycles. They rode bicycles in the old days. This Bill shows the way Kenya should be going; in terms of the right direction. We all know that agriculture is devolved, and we support devolution. It is important to realise that agriculture can never do well, if we do not have extension officers. This is the link between technology and the farmer. These are the people who know which pesticides you need to treat the farmer's crops and the latest technology in town that farmers can use to improve productivity, which has just been mentioned. When they are not there, we leave farmers on their own. This is important. I do not know whether we have the capacity to dictate that whatever budget goes to the governor's office or the counties, that a specific percentage be set aside for extension officers. In that case, we will ensure we have extension officers in this country, more so in agricultural-rich areas where agriculture does very well. The same case should also apply in areas where livestock do well like North Eastern and Ukambani region where we can do very well in keeping cows, goats and all those other related livestock. This Senate Bill which has been introduced in this House by Hon. Mutunga is the right one. Given the timing, we are late. It should have come many years ago, maybe when we started devolution, so that we get these important officers in the field. If we do this, we will help this country. Coming to the extension officers, there are a few things we need to get right. In terms of training, during our days we used to hear of Bukura Agricultural Institute, Ukambani Agricultural Institute, and Embu Agricultural Institute which were middle-level institutes for training diploma level. We also used to have Kabete campus which trained at degree level. Over time, we have killed almost all the diploma level colleges and are only remaining with the ones which offer degrees. There is no way graduates can visit all these farmers because they feel a bit senior. We need to come up with a procedure where we have middle-level institutions like Ukambani Agricultural Institute and Bukura Agricultural Institute so that they can provide the middle-level personnel who can visit farmers. By doing this, we will get it right, in terms of training. The other area which we also need to get right is transport facilitation. In terms of transport, it is now easier to procure motorcycles because they have become very cheap to procure, Hon. Temporary Speaker. If we provided them with motorcycles the way we have done with the chiefs, they will be able to penetrate remote areas of this country and support our farmers so that we grow this economy."
}