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{
    "id": 181864,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/181864/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 175,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Samoei",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Agriculture",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 204,
        "legal_name": "William Samoei Ruto",
        "slug": "william-ruto"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Let me take this early opportunity, in a very humble way, to thank hon. Members for the demonstration of goodwill that they have shown to the Ministry of Agriculture. We have noted the various comments that hon. Members have made. We have noted the concerns of some of the specific areas that hon. Members have raised. I want to pledge to this House that we will look into those specific cases and attend to them. I want to ask hon. Members that, whenever they find time, to liaise with my Ministry so that we can deal with the specific issues for the specific areas in their constituencies. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me single out the concern of hon. Members with respect to the level of funding of the Ministry. Agriculture contributes 80 per cent of all the persons working in Kenya. Agriculture equally contributes about 51 per cent to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). About 60 per cent of all our foreign exchange earnings come from the agricultural sector. Therefore, it was with a lot of wisdom that the African Heads of States and Governments agreed in Maputo that the agricultural sector must be funded to, at least, 10 per cent of the Budget. It is, however, unfortunate that in our country, that still remains a dream! The seven Ministries in the agricultural sector have a combined budget of only 4.5 per cent. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for an economy that is dependent on agriculture, in which 80 per cent of all the working people work in the agricultural sector--- It is an important sector that contributes about 45 per cent of all our internal revenue collection. Surely, this Ministry deserves more money, if we have, as a country, to realise economic growth that is actually going to deal with poverty, which is prevalent in our country, and the unemployment that is so prevalent and is actually becoming a matter of national concern. My Ministry will be proposing, before the next Budget, a Bill to this House for purposes of funding the agricultural sector. We are in the process of preparing a Bill that is going to request that 4.5 per cent of all our revenue collection be given to the agricultural sector so that we add onto the budgetary allocations. The same way, we have 2.5 per cent going to the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), we want 4.5 per cent to go to an agricultural development fund, so that we can deal, effectively, with the issues hon. Members are raising here."
}