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{
    "id": 396104,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/396104/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 66,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Serem",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1162,
        "legal_name": "Cornelly Serem",
        "slug": "cornelly-serem"
    },
    "content": "First, I want to give a few facts about dairy farming. Thirty-nine per cent of the milk in this country is processed by Brookside Dairy Limited. Thirty-one per cent is processed by New KCC. Thirteen per cent is processed by Spinits Dairy, while nine per cent is processed by Githunguri. This totals to about 80 per cent. Fifty-three per cent of the milk produced in this country comes from the Rift Valley region, while 25 per cent comes from the Central region. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am a serious farmer. I am very discouraged to note that a litre of water in a supermarket goes for Kshs70 shillings while a litre of milk goes for Kshs20 shillings. This is very discouraging. When the prices of milk are increased, many people go to the streets to protest but nobody protects farmers. So, we are urging the Government to increase the prices of milk and give a subsidy, so that the poor can afford it. Our interest is in the farmer, who spends so much money to produce a litre of milk only for him to be underpaid. The most important way of assisting farmers is through value addition. Another way of doing this is through storage. So much milk of serious farmers like me goes to waste because most of the processers take milk in the morning. The evening milk goes to waste. If we were to assist farmers, we should do the right thing. When I was growing up, 80 per cent of the land in my constituency was put to dairy farming. We now have only 20 per cent of land in that area under dairy farming. The rest of the land is being used for tea growing. If the trend continues, and watch my lips, we are going to import milk in the near future and seriously at a higher price. If I am wrong, you can go to the supermarket and you will see imported milk mostly from Egypt. The Egyptians use the waters that come from our neighborhood, that is, Lake Victoria and River Nile. If we are serious that, indeed, we want to protect our farmers, then the price of milk must be increased. The only option is to support this Motion. Let us support our farmers so that tomorrow morning we do not end up importing milk from our neighbours."
}