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{
    "id": 399992,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/399992/?format=api",
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    "content": "the health aspect of our people and you think about how many people are drinking funny juices in the name of water that is simply coloured, then you will appreciate that if we had proper fruit factories that produce proper juice, then it impacts on the health of our people as well. Before we start fruit factories, we must also invest in the market. The worst thing that we can do is to start fruit factories that will eventually close down because of lack of a market. In order for us to sustain and ensure that the demand for these fruits will always be there, we seriously need to consider working on the basis of Private Public Partnerships (PPPs) particularly with end buyers in Europe Africa and elsewhere. For instance, if Wallmart in the United States was working in partnership with a fruit factory in Kenya, they would take everything we have to their own markets. Therefore, if we are able to invest in backwards integration as it is called in business and have the end buyers also be our partners in these businesses, then you will find that it is very possible for us to sustain on a long term basis the markets for our fruits and the prices of our fruits and our jobs. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the kind of incentives that we are talking about and the reason why I said that they are also going to involve the county governments is because the incentives may include things like land which has been devolved to the county governments. I remember years back when organizations were offered land in order to build their factories. We must realize that no factory is going to be build here by first purchasing land when in other countries they are being given free land so that they can build the factories. So, we must be a bit more creative. There are also the tax regimes which we must use to attract fruit factories and say that because of the impact they are going to have, for a while, they are not going to be taxed. Depending on which county you go to, that incentive can be more or less. If you are in Nairobi, then you may not need a lot of incentive. If you are in Machakos or Nyeri, maybe you need a bit more incentives. Mr. Speaker, Sir, even as we think about the capacity for production, at the end of the day, nobody is going to put up a factory where the production of the fruits is not guaranteed. You might put up a factory and you need ten tonnes of fruit which you can get today and then the next day you start getting two tonnes. So, in order for us to ensure that there is capacity in terms of production, we must also think about agricultural subsidies to the farmers so that even in times of low demand, they can still continue producing. Finally, I also want to urge our brothers and sisters who are governors in the counties not to call for investors and then when they come to our counties as they have done in Turkana County and then as soon as they start investing, we take pangas and start chasing them away. We cannot claim haki yetu even before some of these things have started to bear fruit. We should be clear that when we are inviting investors, it will take time for the factories they will build to bear fruits in order for us to start getting jobs. We appreciate the fact that they must offer jobs in the areas that they are situated, but we must also give it time. I urge that when an investor comes, let us not start analyzing where the investor comes from and think that they have now come to grab the production capacity of our areas. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}