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"id": 194820,
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"speaker_name": "Prof. Kamar",
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"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to debate on this very important Motion. Let me first, thank Mr. Eugene Wamalwa for bringing this Motion. I also want to thank the hon. Member who brought the amendment. The amendment is very important because what the post-election crisis did was to expose a perennial problem that our farmers have had. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, our farmers have fed this country for many years, but they have lacked recognition. It is only at a time like this when the food crisis is pinching hard that they seem to be remembered. So, I support this Motion first for the write-off. However, I would also like to echo what one hon. Member said that this should not be a practice. We cannot continue to treat the symptoms. We need to have a system that addresses the problems of the farmers properly. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, an analysis was done earlier; on what our farmers are doing. Our farmers are simply putting money at one end and getting almost nothing for it. When we talk of a profit of Kshs300 per acre per month, we are talking of somebody who is toiling to provide food for this nation, but cannot live on Kshs300 per month. This country requires a master plan for food security within which we must recognise all the stakeholders and the farmers as the key producers in the system. This is so that the issue of coming back with a Motion that is dealing partially with the problem be a thing that should be finished by this Parliament. I believe that this Parliament can be innovative enough. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I come from Uasin Gishu District. Uasin Gishu and Trans Nzoia districts are the food basket of this nation. However, when it comes to looking at our farmers, whether large-scale or small-scale, especially in Uasin Gishu District, they are the poorest in society. Their children are seeking for bursaries right from primary school to university level. It is very deceiving to look at a large-scale farmer and imagine that they have everything. When we talk about innovations, there was something called the Agricultural Mechanisation Services (AMSs) in the Ministry of Agriculture, which I am glad was revived to solve the issue of post-election violence. We need to have a systematic way of reviving the AMSs in this country because our farmers are victims of everybody. They are victims of owners of machinery. They are victims of middlemen who buy their produce very cheaply. They are also victims of importers of fertilisers. They produce their crops expensively and we have middlemen who import them cheaply. One would be asking the question: Why is it cheaper to import than it is to sell what we produce? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we all know, and for those who do not know, that the developed world today subsidises agriculture for their farmers. If we cannot afford to subsidise our farmers, then we must look for a way in which our farmers can make something out of it. The problem is that imported foodstuff is cheaper because of the subsidies. If you look at our neighbour, Uganda, where they had a lot of subsidies on fertilizer two years back; it was cheaper for a farmer to import maize from Uganda and sell it to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) than to produce it. The maize that was being produced in Uganda was selling at a profit when it was selling at Kshs600 per bag. The producer cost in Kenya was Kshs800 at that time. So, it was impossible for any farmer to produce and sell maize for less than Kshs1,000 per bag. If you go for the Kshs300 per acre, they would have had to add their Kshs4,000 which, the hon. Member said per acre, and that would have meant that they must sell it at Kshs1,200 per bag. May 7, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 881 Let this Motion be an eye-opener to us; that we really must address the issue of the farmers because they are the sufferers in this nation and yet they are the ones feeding this nation. We must deal with the issue of middlemen and come up with innovative ways in which our farmers must earn profit for their sweat. Yesterday, the Minister for Agriculture talked about the new initiative; the Kilimo Biashara Initiative of Equity Bank. We are informed that the interest rate is going to be 10 per cent. I can tell you that even with 10 per cent interest rate, there is nothing those farmers are going to make. If we want to actually come up with a fund for farmers, let the Government initiate it and let them not use another middleman called the bank because a bank must get its own funds out of it first."
}