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{
    "id": 763310,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/763310/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 236,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Sitienei",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13497,
        "legal_name": "Janet Jepkemboi Sitienei",
        "slug": "janet-jepkemboi-sitienei-2"
    },
    "content": "are 80 per cent of the farmers - there is a lot of pilferage because the farmers are not able to follow their cane to the destination or to the weighbridge. So, alongside the Motion that the Member has brought today, I would request that they also look at it seriously as a Committee. They should form a taskforce so that they can look at the problems that face the sugar industry holistically and address them for the benefit of the farmer. Paying the farmer is a different issue, but making the farmer benefit from production of cane is the most critical and important. Today, if we missed sugar, nobody would go to the streets. But if we missed maize, then people would go to the streets. I am trying to say we should look at other crops like maize so that we can also address the issues that affect those farmers. Still on sugar-cane, we should look at the acreage because many farmers have fragmented their land to uneconomic units. That is why farmers are not able to benefit from the production of cane. So, besides payment for cane, we should also look at the land sizes so that we allow certain acreage of land for farmers to do production to be able to realise the benefits from sugar-cane production. I stand here to support this Motion that the honourable Member has tabled. It should be passed. Apart from passing the Motion on non-payment, farmers should be assisted to address the myriad problems that they face. Over time, the sugar industry has declined. Over time, farmers have been poorer. Farmers have had a lot of challenges that we all need to sit down as Members from the various areas that grow sugar-cane and put our heads together so that, as we address those myriad challenges, we are also able to ensure those laws are enforceable. It will not be any good if we cannot enforce or implement whatever we have passed in this House. Therefore, I beg to support the Motion. As I finish, I want to request the CS for Agriculture to kindly remember that farmers in Uasin Gishu County are now harvesting and we have hundreds of thousands of middlemen who are already reaping from the poor farmers and robbing them of the hard work that they have put in to produce the crop. They now want to sell the crop at a throw-away price. Let them please buy the maize quickly and immediately so that farmers can benefit from the good prices of this Government. Thank you very much."
}