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{
    "id": 774918,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774918/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 182,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I also wish to join my colleagues in supporting the Irrigation Bill, Senate Bill No.5 of 2017. To some people, irrigation sounds like rocket science, yet it is something that has been applied by mankind for a long time. For those of us who went through the 8-4-4 Curriculum, we were exposed to the irrigation methods that the ancient Egyptians used which allowed them to produce a lot of food. I do recall in the study of History when Caesar was Emperor, Egypt used to be one of the greatest producers of corn and other grain products that would feed the Empire just because of irrigation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is important that we have an Irrigation Bill that brings about some order and synergizes the different initiatives that we have already put in place as far as this matter is concerned. If you look at Kenya, irrigation seems to be synonymous with certain areas, particularly the rice growing areas in Nyanza and Mwea. If you look at the great water mass that we have in this country, which is in Lake Victoria, there is very little that is happening around that area as far as irrigation is concerned. Sometime back, there were leaders who had come before us who argued that instead of us fighting over pumping oil from Turkana County – where my good brother with a lot of marks comes from – maybe we should think of pumping water from Lake Victoria so that we can feed all parts of this country and take care of the thirst for water, which this country has. Mr. Speaker, Sir, many people have said that the next frontier for conflict will not even be oil, but water. Indeed, in the last Parliament, I sat in the Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity. When we went to Northern Kenya, we realised that most of the conflicts that many people were experiencing there were as a result of water. We need, as a Parliament and as a Government, to find ways of unlocking the irrigation potential of the lake region so that farmers in that region can move away from rain-fed agriculture, which has disadvantaged them in many ways. The lake region is blessed with very fertile soils. In fact, it is one of the places where God, in his wisdom, decided to put the black cotton soil. But this soil sometimes 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."
}