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{
    "id": 508850,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/508850/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 174,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Bill. This is a Bill from the “Lower House” and it is coming to this Chamber for concurrence. I did not listen to the Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries speak because I got in at the tail end. I hope that he will do some clean up at the Committee Stage especially on the composition of the members of the Board and the representations. In this country, the farmer competes very closely with the policemen and teachers as the most neglected segment of our society. The farmer toils and moils from morning to evening and at the end of the day when the farmer has a bumper harvest, there is no market. When the crops fail, farmers cannot afford food. One may remember that the African Union (AU) in the Maputo Declaration obligated African Governments to dedicate a minimum of 10 per cent of their aggregate national budgets to agriculture. Only one country has achieved that, during the time of President Bingu wa Mutharika in Malawi. In many countries, we have become captives of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and all those financial institutions that keep on telling us; no subsidies to the farmer or free market economy. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, most capitalist countries in the world that spread the gospel of free market economy like America subsidize their farmers heavily. In the European Union (EU), some farmers are paid money not to till a portion of their land in one season. It is dangerous for African countries to continue swallowing the poison pill from the World Bank, IMF and other institutions. This is because Mwalimu Nyerere once said “look at these Chinese, that are a billion plus, if they can feed themselves and give us some food, then there is something to learn from them.” Very simple but very fundamental. We can feed Kenya. Kenya has for a long time been priding itself as an agricultural country. However, an agricultural country without any sound agricultural policy is very bad for any country. In the colonial days running up to the days when governments of the day destroyed public institutions, farmers used to have availability of services from the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA), the National Cereals and Produce 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."
}