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{
    "id": 526447,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/526447/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 279,
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    "content": "county will be represented so that the representation becomes collaged on behalf of the counties. This is because there will be a time when we will do major irrigation in Wajir. I heard the Senate Minority Leader say: “Why should someone from Wajir be sitting in this committee?” There might be a time that we will do a major irrigation there and be the leading producer of potatoes. Tana River County will soon be the leading producer of maize because of irrigation. The point is to create an avenue for people to be able to engage in this kind of farming. The last thing is that whereas we are busy creating legislative framework for us to market the potatoes and so forth, the question that should go to the counties is that what are they doing for value addition? We are not saying that they use their revenue allocation to the counties to start factories. What are they doing to encourage investors that are coming to do potato crisps and chips, so that a farmer in Lelan or Chepkorio in Elgeyo Marakwet County, will actually deliver his or her potatoes directly to a place where it will be processed, added value, employ people in that locality and sell them? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have realized that it is not capital intensive. Creating a small factory to do potato chips and crisps and so forth is a very easy thing. I have a friend of mine who is now doing one for maize – using maize to make crisps and so forth. I went to see it and it is a very small factory here in Ngong’. She brought it to Ngong’ but she comes from Elgeyo Marakwet and she did not get the necessary support at that point in time within the county. If such people are given the opportunity to come there, we will forget about this business of packaging and transporting because the farmer will be the owner of that processing plant. He or she will have a lorry going to collect the potatoes, the prices will be high and the locals will be employed. Counties are just thinking about small routine, rudimentary actions that used to be done by the county councils. Why can we not do something new; add value to these potatoes, maize and all other crops so that the prices can go up? Potato is very good because after three months you harvest and you can plant again and so forth. With all due respect, I have interests in Trans-Nzoia County but I feel very bad that when I go to my farm I plant in March and wait until December to harvest. There is nothing in that farm and if you see the margins that you get from selling the maize, that farm would have produced other things at several times. We just need to tell our farmers that they must be more innovative, creative and accept other crops. There is nothing so special about one particular crop at the expense of the other. You can farm as many crops as possible within the farm. That is the function of the county; to look for ways of bettering those crops, adding value and let those counties compete among themselves. Let us not just sit and rest. We should compete or come together to create a bigger market like the Pwani Group. We asked the people of North Rift to do the same as long as you do not bring sectarian political issues. This should be purely for economic purposes. For economic purposes, it will be necessary, due to economies of scale, for counties try to come together and synergize so as to attract one factory in one county and another in another county."
}