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{
    "id": 4089,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/4089/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 368,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kabogo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 162,
        "legal_name": "William Kabogo Gitau",
        "slug": "william-kabogo"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I support this Motion because it is meant to help the farmers of Kenya, more so tea and coffee farmers. Many years ago, coffee and tea were the largest foreign exchange earners in the Republic Kenya. However, due to the debt burden and other technical inputs, coffee and tea have become minor contributors of foreign exchange. If the debt relief is given to both tea and coffee farmers, it will go a long way in helping the industry. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, you will have noticed in the recent past that coffee and tea farmers are abandoning coffee and tea farming and going into the more lucrative real estate development. This is purely because the earnings in farming are less than those in the real estate industry. So, taking over debts of coffee and tea farmers will come a long way in boosting coffee and tea farming, which will bring in foreign exchange which is vital. You have seen in the recent past how the Dollar, Euro and other major currencies have behaved. If we had lots of coffee and tea exports, this would cushion the Dollar and retain all the international currencies at levels that are reasonable for international trade. You will also see that in developed countries like the United States of America (USA), the production of milk and farm produce is far beyond what those countries can use. Those countries give subsidies to farmers. You will find dairy products in USA stored for 20 years. The Government goes to the extent of funding storage of food for 20 years. When the produce is good here, you will find that farmers have to part with their produce at very cheap or low prices. In those countries you will find that prices are almost stable because the Government comes in to subsidize farmers and so, farming becomes a continually productive exercise. You will also see that if people abandon tea and coffee farming in the Republic, we will be saying: “To hell with employment of our youth and people in the rural areas.” This is because, for example, in Kiambu County where there is a lot of coffee, people are uprooting coffee now to build houses for sale. You will see that coffee has employed people right from when I was born in the 1960s up to now. The same plantation is employing the rural community, but when the Chinese companies come to take over and build real estate, they come with their own labour. Therefore, it is important to cater for tea and coffee farming for the purpose of employment of our youth and the people in the rural constituencies. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, with those few remarks, I want to move the amendment and ask the Member for Limuru to second it."
}