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{
    "id": 334040,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/334040/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 194,
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    "content": "those types of laws in our books. Although in practice they have been overridden, but we have to remove them. Another example of what we can no longer live with is, it insists on fixing prices of scheduled crops. This is no longer feasible especially with the liberalization of the economy. Clause 115, Cap.138 provides for an order on harvesting of essential crops. It in fact means that every time you want to harvest, the Minister has to give you permission to do so. This obviously is quite obsolete. In addition, in the same Cap.8, all work is implemented through the Central Agricultural Board which is no longer in existence. The new Crops Bill has taken on board only the aspects of Cap.318 such as registration of farmers and licensing and taxation that are relevant for the current farming systems. The Bill has also taken into account the roles of national and county governments in Clause 6, hence facilitating devolution. Some of the main advantages of the new Crops Bill are; agricultural development will be better funded through establishment of Commodities Fund under Clause 9. The Cabinet Secretary will have powers to introduce regulations on emerging issues so that agriculture continues to be a profitable business. For example, the Cabinet Secretary in consultation with others will have the power to make rules and regulations for ensuring the provision of incentives and facilities to growers and dealers of these crops. This is necessary because, so far, we are operating on an ad hoc basis. For example, if we were to deal with credit assistance in provision of equipment - anyone of you who goes around the countryside of Kenya will no doubt notice that most of the people who till their land with their hands are women, digging themselves to an early grave. Therefore, we want to ensure that the Cabinet Secretary works on some type of mechanism for all counties to assist farmers. The Cabinet Secretary will also be enabled to identify land for agriculture and make sure that not only do we follow proper management of land, but we do not allow for land degradation. Today, a lot of agricultural land in Kenya is giving way to real estate and other developments. Therefore, we want to use this legislation now so that when you want to remove agricultural products, you should have specific permission with a lot of consultation because as we are going now, we are trying to encourage people to plant elsewhere because the area around this capital and around Central Province is not available and the country is losing a lot of revenue from coffee growing. This is one of the reasons for this law. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what we are trying to do in this law is also to impose fines on people who are messing up with agriculture. Those who come from coffee or tea growing areas know exactly what I am talking about. This time, it will be necessary to register the growers and register the factory owners to avoid the kind of stealing that is going on all the time in this industry. This law imposes stiff penalties to discourage people of that nature from operating in our agricultural sector. The purpose for The Crop Bill is therefore threefold: To replace the Agricultural Act Cap.318 of 65 years ago which is quite obsolete and bring on board provisions that are pertinent to modern agricultural practice for farming as a business so that agriculture in Kenya is competitive regionally and globally. Also it is to enable the Cabinet Secretary working with the Agricultural Authority to regulate so that whenever we have new crops, there is already legislation that allows it to take place. Some of you will recall that we have had crops which are farmed in Kenya but should be regulated, like the one called"
}