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{
    "id": 465965,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/465965/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 512,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bitok",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2372,
        "legal_name": "Stephen Kirwa Bitok",
        "slug": "stephen-kirwa-bitok"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. First, I congratulate the Mover of this Motion, hon. Kimaru Bett, for having remembered to bring this great Motion which has a bearing to our farmers, to our consumers and also to our economy. The major contributor of our economy is the farming sector. If you look at the farming sector, especially the dairy farming, it needs a lot of consideration in terms of motivation to farmers, maintaining the stability of the prices and ensuring that it is profitable. You realise that farmers toil year in, year out and they only make losses. The only fortunate thing is that most of them do not do book-keeping to discover the losses they make. Those who do book-keeping see a lot of losses and run away from the great enterprise. For sure, the Government needs to look into this and put more effort to see to it that the prices are stabilised and the farmers get paid what is due to them. They should, at least, get mark ups of even 20per cent to encourage the farmers. We should have storage facilities in the farming, for example, cooling plants, to stabilise the prices in times of surplus and in times of scarcity, so that we can have uniformity throughout the year. Some of my colleagues have said that farming inputs are so expensive. For instance, when we passed the VAT Act, production costs went up. Much as we did not touch raw milk, you will realise that the cost of the inputs in the production of raw milk has gone up. So, we need a buffer. The cost of farming should be subsidized to keep the price of farming inputs at a reasonable rate. Like some of my friends have said, infrastructure in the rural areas should be improved to reduce the cost of farming. As we introduce funds like the Uwezo Fund, the Government will need to explore farming to ensure that we have enough milk for the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}