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{
    "id": 728067,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/728067/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 265,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ababu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "I just want to express myself on a number of items in the Bill and especially funds that have been allocated to sectors such as agriculture. It has long been said that agriculture is the backbone of the economy of this country and one would expect that since a budget is also a tool for planning and directing resources in areas where you ensure that we answer to the needs of the nation and the needs of our people, it is important to disaggregate the funds that we are sending to the agricultural sector and ask ourselves whether, indeed, we are achieving much in not only strengthening that sector, but also ensuring that this country is food secure. A lot of money has been spent previously and even in this Budget. In sectors like irrigation, for instance, there have been major projects like the Galana Kulalu Project. It would be important even as we seek to put more money in such projects, to see whether those projects, indeed, are of any value and are answering to the needs of the nation. I am a very strong proponent of irrigation agriculture. My land of Budalangi today is a big beneficiary of investment in irrigation. Land that previously would be flood wasteland has been transformed into irrigated agricultural productive land. Today, I am counting about 2000 acres of land that has been transformed from what used to be wasteland to productive land. This Friday, I will be presiding over the ground breaking for another irrigation scheme, the Sisenye Irrigation Scheme, which is a new scheme, which goes to demonstrate that if well targeted, funds in the agricultural sector or in a subsector like irrigation can be very useful. However, we want to see funds being appropriated in a manner that answers to real need. We have had efforts to provide fertiliser and farm inputs because the cost of farm inputs in this country remains one of the greatest challenges to our farmers which pushes up the cost of production and contributes to the scenario we are in today where the cost of unga, sugar and wheat flour has ripped through the roof. Even as we allocate more funds for agriculture, we need to really ensure that the money is going to the right places and is being properly utilised and is answering to our food security needs. I really want to applaud the investment that has deliberately been put in irrigation agriculture over the years because representing people who have benefited and continue to benefit from irrigated agriculture, I can testify to that."
}