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"id": 301973,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Konchella",
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"legal_name": "Gideon Sitelu Konchella",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this debate. First, I want to appreciate the Cabinet sub-committee that developed this policy. In this policy, they have rightly said that the agricultural sector provides livelihood for about 80 per cent of the Kenyan population. This is a fact that is known. It is a fact we must struggle with as we develop our policy, and as we grow food for our people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with the onset of global warming, leading to desertification that is almost covering our country, the policy must address the new challenges that are emerging, which are going to cause food insecurity in this country. Due to the seeds that were planted in my region, the area from Trans Mara all the way to Bomet; farmers are not going to have anything more than a quarter of the yield that they expected this year. So, what is going to happen is that our region, which has been a net supplier of maize for the last ten years, is going to require food relief to be provided by the Government because they are not going to harvest much maize. In the area around Kirndon, where a lot of maize is usually grown, people are already asking to be supplied with relief food. So, in the next few years, we will get into a very serious problem, if the policy does not address the real issues and show ways of tackling those problems. It is good to develop a policy like this one, but what about the ways by which we can address these problems? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are yet to be told the problem of the seeds that we planted this season. The maize just did not grow. The Ministry must come out clearly on this issue. I do not think fertilizers caused a lot of problems because many farmers do not use fertilizers. The problem could be with the seeds. What is the Ministry doing to ensure that the seeds that farmers buy are certified, or the vendors who sell seeds are classified and certified that they actually sell the right seeds? We believe that there is something fishy. We are talking about players in the private sector taking advantage of our people. They could pack the wrong seeds or even bring in Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) seeds. We do not know whether they sold GMO seeds to farmers. I understand that when you harvest GMO maize, you have to buy certified seeds to be able to grown food again. So, it is a very serious matter. I would like the Ministry to prepare to provide food to people in the South Rift region next year because there will be no food for them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are now moving from the East Rift region, which has had a problem for the last few years, to the South Rift and North Rift regions, which have been the bread basket for this country. These areas are now going to suffer a similar fate. Where is the Government going to get money from, knowing that 80 per cent of our population depends on agriculture? Therefore, it means that the Government must plan to provide enough money, in the next Budget, for net importation of food into the country. I am not predicting doom for this country but I can see this coming, given what has happened in my own constituency. Let me now talk about agricultural extension services. Hardly do agricultural extension officers from the Ministry, or from within the agricultural sector, actually go to the field to advise farmers on the quality of fertilizers. Training of farmers before the planting season starts does not take place. Farmers just plant in the way they have always known traditionally yet we know that with application of proper scientific agricultural techniques, we can triple the yield and have enough food. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as a nation, we have the problem of subdividing land so much that the agricultural land that was available in the last few years has all been chopped into small holdings. Everybody now lives on a two-and-a-half acre plot. We are even encouraging this bad practice by settling our Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on two-and-a-half acre plots. So, we are going to be a net subsistence farming nation. So, what should the policy address? It should address the issue of irrigation to open up lands in the north eastern and northern regions of this country, which are very fertile and which are still open. We should now move in that direction because we cannot turn back the clock and tell people to move out of the pieces of land they have settled. Kenyans love land and title deeds. So, it is a problem. So, let us move out of our traditional farming areas into new lands, so that we can grow food through irrigation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is research going on in Mwea – I am happy this is taking place – where rice is actually being grown through drip irrigation. The yields being realised from this type of irrigation are even better than the yields that have been realised from flood irrigation. This means we will not need a lot of water to grown rice or any other food produce, if we use scientific methods. We have enough scientists in this country, who can do research. So, could the Ministry allocate substantial amounts of money for research, so that Kenyans who are able to carry out research, be they universities or individuals within the private sector, can apply for the money and undertake research, which will help the whole country. We will have problems, if we do not use new methods of farming to grow food. We have been talking about subsidised inputs before. This should continue because a lot of farmers, like those in my own region, lost all their crops. It means that if we do not subsidise the agricultural inputs, they will not grow any food in the next planting season. So, what is the Ministry doing to ensure that all the farmers who lost their maize crop due to the bad seeds that were sold to them, or due to drought, are given subsidised seeds and fertilizers, so that in the next planting season, which starts in September, they can plant? This period seems to be best for growing maize and other food crops in this country. So, we should be prepared."
}