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{
    "id": 2268,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2268/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 300,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Mwiria",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 190,
        "legal_name": "Valerian Kilemi Mwiria",
        "slug": "kilemi-mwiria"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to point out the fact that, unlike in the old days, when young men and young women were ready to support their parents with labour to tend the coffee and tea farms, these days, they are becoming less interested. So, you will find that the parents who are getting older have to continue working on those farms. If they cannot do it, then they have to higher labour which is much more expensive. Again, they have to spend their resources in so many different other ways. As we support the farmers by waiving the loans - and we hope that will done very soon - it is important to have additional complementary support to farmers which should include support in education through bursaries. If possible, we should encourage factories to build schools and other facilities that are easily accessible to farmers. In terms of electricity, through the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) and Rural Electrification Programme (REP), we can ensure that all tea and coffee buying centres have access to electricity. Of particular importance is the road network. It is very surprising that if you reach tea and coffee growing areas like Githongo in your constituency or Michimikuru in Nyambene, Tigania, the road network is very poor. We are grateful that we are now seeing some improvement in the road network. So, it is important that, as we support them in other ways, we ensure that infrastructure, especially the road networks, are improved so that farmers can access factories more easily and that the cost of transporting tea and coffee is reduced. That way, those benefits are transferred to the farmer. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is also necessary to support Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) through training, support in marketing and in any other way. The Government can subsidize many of its services to ensure that many of those costs are not transferred to farmers. I also hope that we can get more from the multinationals that are the biggest beneficiaries of the tea and coffee industries. I do not think we are getting enough in return. We are now seeing Safaricom, Equity Bank and others coming up with bursary and scholarship programmes for students. I do not think I have seen multinational companies having strong bursary programmes to support young people in schools in the tea growing areas, especially children of the farmers and workers in those places. I would also like to urge that even the management organizations and the farmers themselves need to be improved to be more efficient in management and be more transparent. They should ensure that farmers do not lose money that they have spent so much time earning the hard way being stolen by unscrupulous managers of those authorities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to conclude by saying the following: I hope what has happened to other coffee factories in terms of complement by the Government to support farmers and traders will also be extended to our tea and coffee farmers. With those few remarks, I support."
}