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{
    "id": 526381,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/526381/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 213,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "This Senate has an opportunity to look at agriculture as a whole because we are talking about food security. Right now, you can see there is no rain but anyone who planted potatoes within the three months that we had some rain in November and December, if they were guided well, today they have a good produce of potatoes. We are going to have a big challenge because there is no rain the maize that was planted is drying up. We have to enable farmers to understand that it is time to get into other home grown crops to enable them move and not to just look at maize but also potatoes. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when I go back to Lugari, I appreciate today that women and other farmers are really investing in potato planting. You will find them on the road. It is a crop that can really transform a family and take care of their economic status. However, what they lack completely is the issue of marketing. Where do they take their potatoes in wholesale? We are saying that the Government should come up with a way of storage and that is why within the Food Security Bill that I was proposing, it was meant to deal with implementation. After you have planted your crops and you have harvested, it is time to look at the country and ask yourself; who has potatoes and who has mangoes and how do we redistribute that to every person in a country where we know the challenge is hunger. The other issue that I think this sector has really faced is that we have never been serious in terms of taking care of policy and making sure that, indeed, when we talk of the different produce that we have, we enhance it. We have new technology that has come and we know that if the farmers are given extension workers from the Ministry of Agriculture to really ensure that they can show them how to plant the new seeds that are there today, we will see a transformation in our country so that we will not just wait for maize but we will also know that we have potatoes and many people will know that instead of dying hungry or wondering what to eat, potatoes can also be another staple food for people. Today we have many counties that have this produce like Meru, Uasin Gishu, Trans-Nzoia, Nyandarua and Nakuru that has been the key. What we are saying now is that since we are expanding, it is time we also started looking at it the way we have been looking at the other cash crops. The way we have been maintaining coffee and tea, we can change this mindset that when there is hunger, it is only maize that we need. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, potato is a crop that is also very perishable and, therefore, in terms of storage, it is very critical. We also need to understand that the seedlings come from the same potatoes. Therefore, how do we ensure that we also build capacity of farmers in keeping the seedlings so that you have the best seedling for planting in the next season? That is one thing that the Government, through KARI, can really assist and also come out with awareness so that people can understand. Most farmers just plant it for the sake of it, but I think it is time we assisted them. If we give them more capacity we can go far in terms of even exporting potatoes to the European countries the way we export flowers. It is something that we really need to invest in. Therefore, this Bill will ensure that we have a market not just in Kenya but even in Europe. Today we see how climate change has affected Europe and if we had good potatoes we would have exported them the way we are exporting our flowers. 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."
}