Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 6422,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/6422/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 429,
    "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, I think in line with trying to give the Kshs2 billion by pumping it to the AFC, the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water and Irrigation should think of a way of maximally utilizing the irrigation schemes that we have in this country. This is because we would not have needed to import maize, rice or sugar, if we are able to revive and utilize all the land that is irrigable in this country and that is arable. If we capacitate the AFC by giving the Kshs2 billion in terms of the profiling and trying to see how we could pay back the debts that the farmers are unable to pay and the Government goes ahead instead of giving loans through banks as intermediaries, trying to see how they could capacitate the farmers, build the farmers’ association and give them a revolving fund which could only levy a small administrative fee, then I think our farmers will do better than what we are currently doing. We would not have started complaining that drought is ravaging and we are losing people because we are unable to produce. We could irrigate most of our land and we have the manpower that could till that land and produce food. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with clear policies and a willing Government, we can have hunger that is driven by drought being a thing of the past because we will not only rely on rain. This is because River Tana, River Athi and all the other rivers like Nzoia and Yala in the west and south can fully be utilized to try and see how we can harness the irrigation that this country so requires to be able to accomplish the Vision 2030. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the interest of time, I would like to support the Motion and say that the Government should not only focus on trying to see how they can pump Kshs2 billion into AFC but also the stimulus package that was designed in 2009 was not fully utilized because, again, we were unable to harvest and try to deal with the post-harvest mechanisms of the maize that the farmers did produce. The Government and the Ministry concerned should start focusing on how they can capacitate the farmers at the irrigation schemes to ensure that they have a revolving fund which can enable them farm adequately."
}