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{
    "id": 67561,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/67561/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 171,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. C. Kilonzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 46,
        "legal_name": "Charles Mutavi Kilonzo",
        "slug": "charles-kilonzo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to support this Motion. In doing so, I wish to tell the Government that there is a saying somewhere that says: “You have eyes, you do not see and you have ears, you do not hear”. As we speak now, there is a revolution taking place in Tunisia. The cause of this revolution is all about food. Revolutions worldwide are all because of food. Famine and drought in Kenya is not a new phenomenon. Weather patterns in this country have not changed over the last 50 years. What is strange and beats logic is the fact that Government after Government since Independence have failed to address the issue of famine. Is it because importation of food is big business in this country? One fails to understand why this is so. We know very well that there are areas in this country which will never have rain, but they are arable. Why has the Government failed to budget on irrigation? Why has the Government failed to allocate a reasonable amount of money to irrigation? Why would the Government factor Kshs7 billion in the Budget for relief food and Kshs100 million for irrigation? It beats logic. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we would have liked to see a clear policy from the Government. We can still do serious farming if the Government is truly committed in investing in agriculture and livestock in Eastern and North Eastern provinces. Why would the Government fail to adopt new techniques? Why would it not encourage drip irrigation? We have the entire 100 kilometers stretch of Tana River flowing into the ocean. Why would the Government not provide farmers with money for irrigation? It should introduce a technology such as drip irrigation and provide farmers with money to buy greenhouses. The Government should provide farmers with new species of crops like what is being produced by the Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI). They are now producing a species of cassava which is drought resistant. It is very difficult to understand why successive governments have failed to come up with clear policies to support farmers. Our farmers stand on their own. Farmers and livestock keepers in this country are very hard working, but they are the biggest losers. If you are a farmer in this country, you can never make money. Farmers do farming as a basis of life support. What I want to know from this Government under the new Constitution is whether it will come up with policies or if it will give money to farmers to ensure that the problem of perennial famine and drought is dealt with once and for all. I fail to understand what the Cabinet does. This Government was buying maize from South Africa and therefore promoting farmers in that country. It was buying maize at Kshs3,700 a bag while a farmer in my constituency was being paid barely Kshs1,500 per bag. What justification was there? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I support the Motion."
}