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{
"id": 774102,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774102/?format=api",
"text_counter": 233,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "February 15, 2018 SENATE DEBATES 37 Sen. Mwaruma",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this chance to contribute to this Bill. This is a very important Bill in the history of Kenya, given that our country is not food secure. This Bill will serve to turn around the trend. Most people in Kenya are living in deplorable conditions. They experience famine and are not able to feed their families. When we have such a Bill, then it is imperative that we support it. In Taita-Taveta County, where I come from, we have a lot of land that can be used for farming, but there is no water. We have water bodies, but they are not available to the farms. The water bodies include Lake Chala and Lake Jipe. We also have huge opportunities for irrigation, where we can arrest water after it rains. A lot of water runs into the ocean and I always tell my people that we have no tender for filling the Indian Ocean with rain water. This water can easily be taped using check dams. There are efforts that have been done towards irrigation, but they have been uncoordinated and sporadic. But with such a legislative framework, this will go a long way into improving the nature of approach to doing irrigation. There are very many problems afflicting people in Kenya, particularly, in Taita- Taveta County. There is poverty, low literacy levels, poor farming, environmental degradation, deforestation and so on. These can be sorted out by this kind of a Bill. Once we have water available for irrigation, we can increase food productivity and income for our people. People will be able to pay for the education of their children. Definitely, their livelihood will be improved. Our economy basically is agricultural based. Where I come from, we grow horticultural crops and other types of cash crops, but without irrigation the performance is very poor. I am looking at counties that have performed better because of employing irrigation. An example is the neighbouring Makueni County. The incomes of their people have grown significantly because of irrigation. Makueni County is now exporting mangoes in high quantities. They are doing value addition courtesy of irrigation. Therefore, this Bill must be supported. I would have contributed comprehensively if I had a copy of the Bill. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get hold of a copy of it. In the subsequent discussions on this Bill, I should be able to contribute even better, but we have to support it. We have huge opportunities of growing our economy through availing of water to our people. With regard to livestock farming, Taita Taveta County is a disease free zone. The Masaais and the Somalis have invested in livestock, but they do not do value addition to their animals because of lack of adequate water. If they had adequate water, they could have feedlots. This is a concept borrowed from Botswana where animals are fattened, slaughtered and exported to earn more income for farmers. With adequate water for irrigation, we, as a country, can do reforestation and increase our forest cover. In the 1990s, our rivers had adequate water. We used to do a lot of irrigation. Today, we cannot do irrigation from the river sources because of environmental degradation. If we can use the several methods of irrigation that are contemplated in the Bill, we will increase forest cover in our country and have enough rainfall. I am sure in the next 40-50 years, we will have enough forest cover as it was in the 1980s and 1990s. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}