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{
    "id": 356479,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/356479/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 374,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Aden",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. Let me take this opportunity to welcome you back and say that through our prayers--- I wish you and your family comfort at this testing time. I rise to support this Motion and state that, indeed, livestock farming accounts for a very significant part of our economy and supports a very significant part of the lives of Kenyans. Hon. Deputy Speaker, as we have seen year in and year out, or every two years, there is drought that wipes out lives of very many families that live in the ASAL areas. Drought causes death of animals and poverty thereby creating slums and very many informal settlements in some of our main towns, especially those in the north eastern part of Kenya. In the constituency which I represent, nomadic pastoralsim accounts for over 90 per cent of the occupations of people. Year in, yare out we have seen many villages being created and very many slums coming up in towns like Garissa. I want to say that this also contributes very much to rural urban migration. With the policies that we have now, we want to support livestock farmers lives. If not checked, this will create, as has been mentioned by another honourable Member on the Floor here, insecurity. Insecurity will continue to exist because we have a large number of idle youth in towns and slums; they have nothing to do; they lack a good educational background. Some of the things we need to do to support and bring out pastoralists from this problem is to provide formal education and commercialise the lives of our pastoralists – people who depend on livestock. I want to give an example of a case of an old man in my constituency who had 500 cows, and who in the last drought lost 450 of them and was left with only 50 animals. According to my calculation, this was a rich man who was worth over Kshs12 million; he is now living as a pauper, since he has a small number of animals. This number is not enough to support his life. We should educate pastoralists and tell them that in times when they have large numbers of livestock, they should sell them and invest in other ventures; indeed these can actually give them income that can enable them buy other animals after drought spells. Hon. Deputy Speaker, there is need to increase support to these livestock farmers by providing animal husbandry, cattle dips, veterinary services and, above all, marketing"
}