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{
    "id": 754193,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/754193/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 173,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. ole Kenta",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 420,
        "legal_name": "Richard Moitalel ole Kenta",
        "slug": "richard-moitalel-ole-kenta"
    },
    "content": "Thank you hon. Deputy Speaker. First of all I would like to thank Hon. Wakhungu for bringing up this Motion. I propose that we all support this Motion because it will benefit of all of us, as representatives of the people. As we all know, our country is an agriculture-based economy. Without agriculture Kenya will be nowhere. We export coffee and tea, but more than anything else we rely on the grains that we grow in our farms to support not only the economy but the livelihoods of our people. We know that this problem has been there for a very long time. In the 1970s, there was Ken Ren Fertilizer Factory and Kenya is still paying dearly for it. I believe that since we have a new and transparent Government, it is time we went back to the basics and created structures that will make our economy grow through our own efforts, and not through efforts of people from outside, who always hold us to ransom. The worst problem we have is the middlemen mania in Kenya. What is happening is that whereas the fertilizer might reach here in time, it will not go to the farmers because somebody wants to make profit out of it. So, you find that whereas the NCPB is supposed to distribute the fertilizer, there are cartels that gang up to ensure that individuals at places like Narok supply it. So, when the farmer goes to ask for the fertilizer, he is told that he can only get it from a certain outlet at an exorbitant price. In fact, the worst is that there is even discrimination when it becomes to the prices of fertilizer. Hon. Deputy Speaker, when you hear about subsidies, they do not benefit everybody. You will find that in the North Rift there is subsidy, but when it comes to the lower Rift Valley there is no subsidy. So, you will find that the farmer in one part of the Rift Valley benefits while the others do not. All I want to say is that cheap is expensive. We do not want cheap fertilizer; we do not want any subsidies; what we want is for the fertilizer to reach us in time, so that our farmers are able to benefit from it. If Kenyans think really as they should, this particular institution, the NCPB, has so many scandals. At the moment they do not even operate their own account because they are blocked from doing so. You remember the maize saga which is still affecting the economy of this country. You remember the sale of contaminated maize to the Kenyan population. This is not an institution which can be trusted to do anything for Kenyans. I support Hon. Wakhungu that we should have an independent board to distribute fertilizer to the people, so that if I am a small farmer, I get the same benefits as a large scale farmer. We rely greatly on the small farmers who bring in two sacks of maize and beans. Those are the people feeding us, and not the people who do farming on large scale. They do not benefit the local person. The other thing is what the President said; he said that one of the economic pillars of this country is agriculture. As one hon. Member has said, it is important that we have our priorities right. Why would you want to spend so much on irrigating one million acres when you can actually utilize that money to get the fertilizers, seeds and even a mechanized way of doing things? I request this house to look at these things afresh. Let the farmers get that money directly, because that is the only way it will benefit them. For example, in Narok we are also the blessed food basket of this country because we produce barley, maize and wheat. But you will find that the local farmer is not benefitting, instead it is foreigners who benefit. It is not even Kenyans, but South Africans who are benefitting. What happens is that we are left with nothing. We go to the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) to get loans, but we do not get fertilizer and The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}