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"content": "925 standards, and monitor compliance with international lint standards. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Authority is empowered further to establish and maintain an up-to-date data base for the cotton industry in the country. The farmers must know what is happening around, and equally share knowledge and the products of their own industry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have also suggested and given in this amendment to the farmers mandates to collect, analyse and disseminate information and statistics on the areas under cotton cultivation yields and any trends in the cotton industry so that they can again share the markets, knowledge and any foreign information that can reach them from other countries. Furthermore, the Authority is mandated to promote and give technical or financial support to education programmes, courses, seminars, workshops, visit tours and such other agricultural shows that will further empower the cotton growers to have more competence in their areas. The amendment also, and this we have done with consultation and harmonisation of the amendment with the Ministry of Agriculture, suggests to propose a Cotton Development Fund, which the Minister for Agriculture will bring to the House with appropriate amendments. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have, therefore, presented these amendments so that they can empower this Government to deal with situations like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). When opportunities came to Kenya for our country to benefit from foreign investments, we were not able to do so because of the low yields of our own products and we could not even benefit because what we have been seeing happening in this country in the cotton industry was our farmers importing cotton from Uganda and Tanzania and bringing it here and utilising that to say it is our local cotton when, really, it was not because we had no capacities; and secondly, bring in material from elsewhere and have it turned into apparel at the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and labelled Kenya products when they really were not our own products. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have seen our cotton ginneries collapse and, therefore, nothing has been happening in this country. We want, through this amendment, to ensure that these services are returned to our people so that farmers in this country are able to control the industry. If we do this, this country can grow and produce quality cotton, spin and weave it and turn it into apparel. We want to see our own farmers add value to our product and, therefore, compete in international markets. We have, therefore, worked together with the Cotton Stakeholders Forum and the Ministry of Agriculture and harmonised the amendment to this Act. The Minister, in his contribution, I believe, will bring the appropriate amendments to the areas where I mentioned that we need a Cotton Development Fund. We would like to request the Minister to release the Kshs206 million that was in the Budget to cotton farmers so that they can start immediately to develop the industry through seeds improvement and also start to prepare their ginneries. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have included in this amendment, a transitional clause which will help the Minister to support the Authority to handle the liability that is being passed on to the new Cotton Development Authority. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in summary, I would like to say that the amendment has come at a right time to empower cotton farmers. With the collapse of cotton industry, many Kenyans lost job opportunities. In fact, we lost over 600,000 job opportunities. We have also not empowered many Kenyans to benefit from economic development such as through the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). In constituencies and provinces where farmers depend solely on cotton farming for economic empowerment, they have not benefitted because they lack the technical know-how to develop this industry. I hope that hon. Members will support the amendments to this Bill and empower our farmers to move on. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, since I know that hon. Members want to contribute to this Bill, I will not belabour much on any point. I beg to move and ask Eng. Okundi to second this Bill. 926"
}