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{
    "id": 6421,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/6421/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 428,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Nuh",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 114,
        "legal_name": "Nuh Nassir Abdi",
        "slug": "nuh-abdi"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Kenyan farmer needs to be empowered in many fronts. We had faced a serious drought where we had shortage of food and we had literally to import food at a higher cost than we could produce from other countries. In other words, we were unable to support the farmers to the extent that we lost millions and billions of shillings just because we had to import food that may even have been of a poor quality than that produced by our farmers just because we were unable to plan. We had a bumper harvest early last year and in late 2009 from many parts of this country; in Bura Constituency, specifically, in the Coast Province as a region, in Eastern Ukambani region in Western Kenya and even in the Rift Valley. But where did all that maize go? It went to waste just because of a simple reason that we were unable to dry the maize to the required standard which resulted in high aflatoxin levels. In other words, the farmers had toiled so much, but we were unable to reap the benefits of the bumper harvest just because we did not plan well. Even now, this House passed a budget for driers to be procured by the Ministry concerned, but I am shocked that, to date, people in Bura Constituency have not received this driers. Again, we will start complaining that maize has been wasted by aflatoxins just because we were unable to procure the desired materials. Farmers in this country have to be capacitated, not only by being given the technical expertise, but also by being given the resource base that could enable them farm adequately. Currently, the farmers in Bura and Galole constituencies, two irrigation schemes that have been down for the last 20 years but which were revived by the Government of his Excellency, the President, Mwai Kibaki - and I want to thank him. These schemes were revived through the Stimulus Package that was designed in 2009/2010, but we are unable to fully recover because the farmers down there do not have the financial capacity to farm adequately. Currently, the Government has been giving loans to banks for them to support investments and farming down there. However, the critical question we ask is: Why could our farmers not be capacitated in such a way that they could have their own revolving funds because the banks will levy interests; interests that are high that will not enable the farmer to make adequate returns? The farmers at the end of the day will be toiling, but paying back to banks and maybe partly to the Government and this will really kill the morale of the farmers."
}