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"id": 181851,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Bett",
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"speaker": {
"id": 157,
"legal_name": "Franklin Kipng'etich Bett",
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"content": "Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to associate myself with the last statement made by my colleague, Mr. Khaniri. We support this Ministry. However, it must also be supported by the Exchequer. Yes, we, as Members of Parliament, will support the Ministry. The October 29, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3143 Ministry of Finance must also find it wise and prudent to allocate adequate funds to this Ministry so that as we keep singing that it is the backbone of our economy, it has adequate funds to run its affairs. We cannot say it is the key Ministry, it is the backbone, it is the engine, yet the engine has no oil. That oil is the money that is required to run the engine. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I speak now, the Ministry has only got an allocation of 4 per cent of the Government revenue. This is far below what was agreed in Mozambique. Kenya is a signatory to the agreement in Mozambique that Ministry of Agriculture and related Ministries must be allocated funds up to the extent of 10 per cent of Government revenue collection. We are far below this by 6 per cent. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, out of the Kshs12 billion which has been allocated to this Ministry, Kshs8 billion is for Recurrent Expenditure and the remaining Kshs4 billion is for Development Expenditure. It looks like we are only working for ourselves in the form of salaries. We need to find a way of allocating more money for Development Expenditure which will then provide money for the Recurrent Expenditure. We need to do that because this is the industry that supplies this country with food. We keep talking of food security and famine. We say there is not enough food. Mr.Deputy Speaker, Sir, yes, there cannot be enough food unless we provide adequate funds and extension services to the farmers. We must also provide good inputs at good prices. If we continue supplying the farmers with fertilisers and seeds the way we are doing, we will have to stop talking of agriculture being the backbone of the economy. They will not be able to sustain us in terms of food security. This is also another sector that supplies raw materials to agro-businesses. Our industries rely on raw materials from agriculture. The industrial sector must really be suffering because they have to get their raw materials from outside the country. It is a shame that we are importing a good amount of our inputs. In fact, it is a shame that we are also importing some of our foods, for example, eggs. We are doing this, yet we should be able to coordinate and organise our farmers to supply us with such foods. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we say this is a key sector because it provides employment. There are so many youths out there without jobs. If we properly manage and fund agriculture, it will absorb most of the youths in the countryside into employment. We, however, are not concerned with funding this sector. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me talk about the cost of inputs. Fertiliser is so expensive, be it for use in planting tea, maize or wheat. The price is so high. I want to laud the Minister for having taken every step within his powers to find ways and means of supplying this country with affordable fertiliser. That is one thing I must congratulate the Minister and his team for, much as I would congratulate him for other activities within the agricultural sector. There is one big supermarket which we have left out; that is, the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA). This was the supermarket for farmers. It has a network across the country. In the Ninth Parliament, we passed a Motion guaranteeing Kshs2 billion to resuscitate the KFA. That has not been done, yet if today we asked what KFA is owed, we should be able to pay it off. It is only Barclays Bank of Kenya and the National Bank of Kenya who are owed loans. If we can pay off the two and then we give the KFA a letter of credit to import fertiliser at an affordable price, the KFA stores will opened. Another avenue for employment for our youths. That is another way of using the facilities that are already in place. We need to find a way of revitalising KFA to be able to sell farm inputs to farmers at subsidized rates. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must be extremely careful on the quality of seeds that we get from the Kenya Seed Company. We must not mix these seeds with other seeds. I hear people talk about Genetically Modified Seeds. I want to say that we must allow risk assessment to be properly done before we introduce Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) products. Not long ago, we 3144 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 29, 2008 were in Bonn to discuss Genetically Modified trees. The whole world said, \"No, until risk assessment is assured for the whole world\". However, in this country, we seem to be in a hurry to introduce them. Let us be careful because it can be a risk that can even cost us our seeds and we might not have seeds locally in the long run. Finally, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must think of using irrigation as a means of producing food. If we look at the Kano Plains and Mwea rice irrigation schemes, they are all going down. If we were to use them and particularly gravity-generated irrigation, we would be supplying food to our people in a better way. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Minister to remember what the people of my constituency were promised last year by the former Minister. He promised us Kshs200 million to put up a pineapple processing factory. We are waiting for that money and we hope it is going to come within this Budget. The people of Buret are waiting for that money to put up a pineapple processing factory. I want to assure this House that the pineapple we have in Bureti is the sweetest in Kenya and the world. It has sweetness that is sweeter than sweetness! I want to urge the Minister that he pursues what his predecessor said; that he was going to build a factory that will engage the farmers and create employment for our people. That will be a great help to the people of this country. With those many remarks, I beg to support."
}