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{
    "id": 30371,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/30371/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 353,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mbiuki",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Agriculture",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 79,
        "legal_name": "Japhet M. Kareke Mbiuki",
        "slug": "japhet-kareke-mbiuki"
    },
    "content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I wish to respond. On the very outset, I wish to support this Motion. I want to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Ababu Namwamba for spearheading the revival of most our agricultural sector and even bringing this particular Motion, which I believe has been long overdue. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we all know the history of this country and we all know where we are coming from. We have seen so many players within the agricultural sector being run down from KFA which we are addressing today, KCC, Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK), the Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPC), the Kenya Seed Company and others. Most of these players in the agricultural sector have been looted. The Ministry of Agriculture has all the will and intention to ensure that all these firms are revitalized and revived so that at the end of the day, the farmer can benefit. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, KFA was formed way back in 1923 as we have been told here. I remember when I was growing up, there was the Kenya Grain Growers Cooperative Union (KGGCU) which was the precursor of KFA. It was extremely very vibrant. In each and every market centre, we had a branch of the KGGCU. It was serving our farmers very well. It was a channel of distributing all the farm inputs from fertilizer, pesticides and seeds. It was playing a very big role in the agricultural sector. Unfortunately, for the last 20 years or so, the rain started beating us and we started seeing the collapse of most of our firms managed by the Government before. There was rampant grabbing of land and stealing of property. As I am talking now, the ownership of KPA is in serious question. The Ministry of Agriculture has all the intentions to ensure that, first and foremost, we sort out the ownership of KFA so that all the problems KFA is facing can be sorted out once and for all. Of late, the Government has been channeling all its efforts through NCPB. I want to agree with the Minister of State for Special Programmes that NCPB does not have the capacity to distribute some of these inputs. They have no specialized personnel to ensure that all the farm inputs reach farmers in an easier way as KFA was doing before. “Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker”, Sir, therefore, the Government is supporting the revival of KFA. However, first, we want to sort out the issue of ownership once and for all like we did with the Kenya Seed Company and KCC. “Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker”, Sir, as I am talking now, we are coming up with a Cabinet Memo---"
}