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{
    "id": 565648,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/565648/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 372,
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    "content": "sector was ignored. It is important to note that if we want to increase food production in this country, we have to ask ourselves what the inhibiting factors are. One of the critical ones within the agricultural sector would be the prohibitive costs of farm inputs. In this country, buying fertilizer, seeds, farm machinery and fuel for the farm machinery need to be relooked into. I appreciate that in the last three years or so, the national Government has directed its efforts in subsiding the cost of fertilizer in this country. However, the Government needs to do a little more than that Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in the last harvesting season, maize coming from Uganda and Tanzania was retailing at a cost of about Kshs1,200 while the cost of production of the same amount of maize in this country was about Kshs1,600. That leaves the question: How is it possible that farmers in Uganda and Tanzania are able to produce their maize at such a cheaper cost? These are issues that the national Government has to address itself to and in doing so; it should be seen within the budgetary allocation process, by directing the necessary resources to the agricultural sector so that we bring down the cost. I come from a region that focuses on tea, maize and wheat production. Within the maize sector, in the last two years, we have the challenge of some of the diseases affecting the grains in our region. We need to allocate adequate resources in this country to the agricultural research institutions so that they can do adequate research and identify some of the varieties of seeds within the grain sector that will be able to withstand some of these diseases. Therefore, I think that there is need for collaboration between county and national Governments in addressing some of the issues of food security in this country. When the Senate was in Mombasa the other week, we agreed that there is need for us to audit the national budget and look at some of the aspects within the budget that we devolved but resources remained at the national Government. I think that agriculture would be one area that we need to focus on and ask ourselves how much of the resources that are supposed to have gone to county governments were retained within this sector. We can then free them to county governments for them to budget for those resources and allocate them to specific areas that require the interventions of county governments to ensure that we have a food secure country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I must say that I am a disappointed legislator. In most county governments where agriculture is one of the critical sectors of their economies, you will find that their budgets are not focusing on agriculture. The Government has undertaken measures to subsidize fertilizer. We need to see the same approaches by county governments subsidizing agriculture further – subsidies on fertilizer, seeds and ensuring agricultural extension officers are available to serve farmers – so that we increase productivity within our regions. This is critical to ensure that citizens in our counties are well fed. Some counties produce food in surplus while in others, people have challenges accessing food. Why are county governments not getting into some agreements? One county can agree with another that we are producing maize and another one will produce a different type of food. The two counties can then engage in contract farming. We want county 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."
}