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{
    "id": 67649,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/67649/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Kamar",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 33,
        "legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
        "slug": "margaret-kamar"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, when the Budget was read in June 2010, some of us raised the issue of behaving like Malawi and we insisted that this country must have one single agenda. The first agenda was to feed our people. But it is very sad that every year when the drought comes, we are still worrying about the population that cannot exist. It is a population that we know what it requires and yet, it cannot receive food. I am glad that the Minister of State for Special Programmes has raised an issue that seems to have been ignored for a very long time. The fact that the infrastructure in the same area is a disaster- -- Even if we had to have linkages between the counties that produce and the ones that would like to have food, there is no way you can go to some of these areas and sell the food. So, there is no businessman who will be interested in transporting any crop from Trans Nzoia to Turkana because of infrastructure. So, this must be 100 per cent the role of the Government. I really believe that it is something that is doable. We should do it! This 80 per cent land that is productive in this country should be used to produce enough for all of us. It is possible to do that. I think our weakest link is in the planning, and the responsible Ministers must take this, including the statements that were made by the Ministers very seriously and ensure that there is clear planning. We must plan with the farmer in mind so that the farmer can produce, because right now, that area is being diminished. There is no way I can convince my farmers in Uasin Gishu to switch back to maize from passion fruit, because they are getting better returns. There is no way you will convince the farmer in Trans Nzoia to come back to the food crops unless there is a very clear plan. When they have the crop, like we have right now, if we have them in our stores, which are not well aerated, we are even losing more of the crop that has been produced, which is another area that needs planning. The Government and the responsible Ministers, as they have confessed today, must really ensure that whatever has been produced is preserved and protected from destruction so that we do not lose what is produced from the less than 16 per cent of the land area which was originally 20 per cent. We are seriously losing our productive land! This is not an area that we can debate about more than act. We really need to act and I would like to support that the army be mobilized and this announcement be made so that the farmers who still have their crops in their stores may surrender them to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) at the earliest tomorrow, so that they can be useful to Kenyans. What will be the use when we have food in the stores and others are dying? We will only be talking of weevils having enjoyed our food crops while other people are suffering. I beg to support."
}