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{
    "id": 30339,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/30339/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 321,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Laboso",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 63,
        "legal_name": "Joyce Cherono Laboso",
        "slug": "joyce-laboso"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for also giving me this opportunity to add my voice and support very strongly this important Motion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I stand here, I remember the role that the KFA has played in my life. I know that I would not be here today, having gone to school and to the level that I have gone, if it were not for the KFA. It is because of the farm inputs such as fertilizer and other implements that my parents got from the KFA on credit that made me be what I am today. So, this is a very timely Motion and I really hope that the Government will implement it so that we can return the KFA to what it was. Of course, right now, most of the 65,000 members of the KFA are dormant. There is one KFA store in my constituency. Sotik was a very vibrant KFA outlet, but if you go there now, you will find that the products that are sold in that store are even more expensive than what is being sold in the ordinary shops. That is because the KFA has literary collapsed and it no longer plays the role that it used to play. The Government should step in urgently. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are experiencing food insecurity in the country now. If the KFA was what it was then, getting food and transporting it to where it is required would be a very simple exercise. On the debt portfolio, really, what is Kshs1.4 billion to a Government when we know that high level corruption has made us lose more? What is Kshs1.4 billion for an organization that will change all that happens in the country; that will ensure that we begin to have some faith in the co-operative movement? The only way we can get out of our current situation of floods and famine is by revamping the marketing chain. The KFA, definitely, plays an important role. The KFA will give faith to the farmer. We know that the farmer is the most disadvantaged at the moment. This is because the cost of inputs is too high and the price of maize is too low. Right now, I believe that the only counties that are harvesting maize in the country are Bomet and Trans Mara. However, we now have the problem of middlemen who have come in, in droves to ensure that those farmers do not get value for their money. This is despite the fact that the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has opened its stores there. But farmers are asking: “How do we get to where the stores are?” That is because they do not have money to get to where the stores are. But if we had Kenya Farmers Association (KFA), it could special arrangements for make for them to transport their produce there. They would even bring their own lorries to the areas where the maize is. They would be the ones to do the marketing. That organization is needed like yesterday. This is a timely Motion and I want to support it with all the strength I have."
}