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{
    "id": 467796,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/467796/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that the way that we looked after cattle so many years ago when I was a herdsboy is the same way we are looking after them up to now. In fact, we are now worse off because then, at least, there were extension officers. At least there were some people under some tree in my primary school every Tuesday to inject the animals. We would bring them – and I was very good at making sure that the animals fell very quickly – and they would give them the injections. But now they are not there. In fact, I think it is Prof. Lonyangapuo who said that we lost it sometimes after the structural adjustment programmes. But it is something that we must go back to if we seriously want to deal with our situation. How do you look after your animals if you cannot even get somebody to treat them? I now know that everybody in my village pretends to be a doctor of animals. We call them “veterinary officers.” Everybody has a syringe and some medicine. They do not know which medicine to apply. Their medicines seem to apply to all diseases any day without anybody inquiring as to what is bothering the animals. At least, there is no laboratory around to check what the problem is in order to give the appropriate medicine. So, everybody is a veterinary officer. There are “veterinary officers” of goats, cattle, dogs and everything. This is terrible, because we did not invest in this industry. There is no way you will get results if you do not invest in an industry. Investing should, first, be by training personnel, secondly, by putting other resources in it. I was talking to one upcoming farmer in Nyanza – and he is very proud that he has some ten milk cows in Kisumu area. He said that one day he looked for somebody trained in dairy management for a long time and he was not able to get a suitable graduate who would look after his animals. He was ready to pay any amount of money to get his animals treated. The reason is that some of our students now do not train in this because nobody employs them. You know that we killed the industry and left it in the wild. Why then would you train in something which will not benefit you? He eventually got somebody who is helping him. These trained people are rare and far in between. So, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if our governors really love this country, we must fix the agriculture and livestock industries; this should be both the crop industry and livestock industry. If we properly looked after livestock with proper investment in human resource and other resources, we will produce more wealth in this country than cereals. We have much more wealth in livestock than cereals can ever bring but somehow we have neglected it. Sometimes back when I heard Prof. Lonyangapuo talk about Lords Delamere and Egerton in such lavish ways, I said “O, you mean they could build a pipeline for milk?” I remember the debate when we were building the pipeline for oil – then I was not in Parliament, but I was a young man – I remember the late hon. Shikuku saying: “How can we build a pipeline for a product that we do not even have?” It was a serious debate. But Lords Delamere and Egerton were building a pipeline for a product they had, which we have lost. It is sad that we now read about them as history, but we cannot do the same. Some of us in this House will have to vie next time as governors so that we can go and fix these things ourselves. This is because with a little effort and with a little money, it can be done. I was asking my brother here; “how much does it cost to build a modern abattoir?” because I was thinking that an abattoir is something very complex. He told me that one abattoir, which they are doing without too many additives, is slightly over Kshs100 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."
}