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"id": 363180,
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"content": "country is continually going to be food insecure. At one time, Malawi was food insecure. But it is currently food secure and one of the strategies that it has put in place is ensuring that there is availability of fertiliser on time. Hon. Speaker, Sir, if you look at the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) in 1990s, in the production of agriculture, we used to have extension officers. They are no longer there and this is a big problem in this country. We do not have any laboratory which has been set up to do the sample analysis of the soil, so that we can be able to know what kind of fertiliser to apply to our soils to increase productivity. This Motion also requests that, as the Government tries to put up an agency whose core business is going to be specifically procurement and distribution of fertiliser, in the long run, it should set up a plant that is going to manufacture fertiliser in this country. Hon. Speaker, Sir, when you put a compound in the soil, you are affecting the acidity and alkalinity of that particular soil. Ten years down the line, it is not a guarantee that the kind of fertiliser you are going to use is going to be of the same composition. In this country, farmers use the same kind of fertiliser because of lack of research to advise them accordingly, so that they will be able to know what kind of fertiliser is suitable for that particular soil. It is important to note that different regions in this country have different levels of fertility and in case we have that agency in place, besides the importation and distribution of fertiliser, it will also put in place the aspect of soil science so that if we have a local factory in this country, it can manufacture fertiliser tailored to suit the soil in Ukambani, western Kenya or the Coast region. That is because all the soils are not the same. They are totally different. Hon. Speaker, Sir, in this country, we are aware that there was a project called Kenren Fertiliser and, at the moment, Kenyans continue paying heavily for that Kenren Fertiliser which never took place. So, we ask ourselves: What happened and when are we going to have that plant in place because it is long overdue? We should move with speed and put measures in place to put up a fertiliser factory. Unless we do that, even if we put all the policies in place, Kenya will continually be food insecure. Hon. Speaker, Sir, at Independence, our forefathers were fighting poverty and hunger. I saw a cartoon in the newspapers whereby, when His Excellency the late President Jomo Kenyatta was in power, he pledged, during the first Madaraka Day, to fight poverty and hunger. The other day, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, who is his son, 50 years down the line, he pledged the same. He is going to fight poverty and hunger. This is the highest time that this country should put priorities in place. Food security cannot be under-estimated. We have had a lot of insecurity cases all over the country and one of the contributors to that is hunger and food insecurity. If you do not have anything in the stomach, then you are hungry. One reason why the youth are getting engaged in those ugly incidents is to get something to put in their stomachs. So, food security is something which is very very critical and we are looking forward that if, indeed, this country is serious in fighting food security, then fertiliser must be a priority. Research has shown that this country consumes about 600 metric tonnes of fertiliser. In that case, even without doing any feasibility study, it shows that we have a huge market that can enable Kenya to have a factory on its own. With the challenges in terms of logistics and Al Shabaab, when this fertiliser is imported from outside, it gets delayed. Reaching the common mwananchi ; the common farmer in Kitale, Western"
}