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{
    "id": 391394,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/391394/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 217,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Today, we are subsidizing maize farmers. The reality is that we need to address the issues that are facing our agricultural sector. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the most important issue is the management of the sector. In the second part of the Motion where the Mover is asking that the Government assists in marketing, we know, for example, that the Coffee Board of Kenya (CBK) and the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) have been operational. However, other institutions have failed. There is nothing more spectacular than the collapse of the Kenya Planters Co- operative Union (KPCU). Many other institutions have failed. There was the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA). The New Kenya Co-operative Creameries was revived recently after collapse of the initial Kenya Co-operative Creameries (KCC). There are other organizations such as the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) which have gone through the same process. The problem has been the management of institutions that ought to market our products. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the second thing is about the policy interventions. When you look at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, our failures have been as a result of the policies. We have discussed this issue at length. If you look at the latest policy by the Ministry, the one developed in 2006 on revitalizing the agricultural sector, all the challenges facing that sector are covered in those documents. The challenge comes when the issue of implementation comes in. My concern is that, this Government which today is struggling to finance devolution and to even pay its workers; I do not see how the same Government is expected to buy all the tea and coffee when the prices are down. The issues in the tea and coffee sector are not as gloomy as those in the other sectors. Last year, the tea bonus was the highest ever recorded. Every time there is a tea bonus, we know what happens in this country. We know how that money gets squandered in bars and night clubs. We have read about this. So, it is not a question of lack of profitability in these sectors. When the international prices are good, farmers in the tea and coffee sectors have made huge money. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my concern is about the precedent we will set if we subsidize coffee and tea which are cash crops. They are not essential crops like maize and beans. Farming of maize and wheat is all about self-sufficiency and food security. That is why today the Government is subsidizing fertilizer for maize and wheat farmers. If we do not have maize, beans and wheat, then we are talking about a situation where there will be starvation in this country. However, a cash crop is an investment just like any other. There are people growing pyrethrum and many other crops---"
}