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{
    "id": 784166,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/784166/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 360,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "As one colleague - the great professor - has stated, we have been having a lot of rains recently. I come from a county where I have to cross Narok County where, year in, year out, the road is cut-off by water that floods and sweeps away parts of the road, yet this water could be harvested and put to good use for irrigation. You will realize that after a short while, there will be shortage of water which will lead to shortage of food in the long run. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, with climate change, it has been estimated that by the year 2030, well over 20 million people will be food insecure. Unless we put in place tangible and great strategies to ensure that we have sufficient food, this country will for many years continue to experience similar problems. I remember that in my county, we had large silos that stored maize, beans and millet, yet right now, they are just white elephant projects which are empty. This is because people in Bomet County have been growing maize, whereas South Rift has been experiencing what we call the yellow maize streak yet the farmers are continually growing the same due to lack of advice from the agricultural sector. I wonder what is not happening that we are experiencing such issues. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I love Clause 9 which talks of ensuring that mothers and children receive proper nutrition. Just like me, you will realize that, Professor who was a great Minister for Education years ago does not know how the popular Nyayo milk got lost. This milk was to take care of the children in their formative years to achieve protein. You will realize that in some areas, there are people who normally feed on wild poisonous fruits which they boil from morning to evening to remove the poison from the fruits and end up eating them. The young ones in such areas used to be well nourished because of the provision of the Nyayo milk. We should bring an amendment to this Bill to ensure that the school going children will be fed on free milk. Parts III, IV, V and VI of this Bill are about the formation of a national authority as well as the County Food Security Committee. This begs the question; what happened to the agricultural sector? This could be a special linkage at the grassroots but the major problem is that, of late, we do not see the people we used to call Agricultural Extension Officers who used to go deep into the villages to train farmers on the best practices of growing and tending to food. Currently, the type of fertilizer used by farmers and the way they tend their crops is a major contributor to low food production in this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the food security committee at county level will play a very important role of ensuring there is proper mapping. I am a member of the Senate Committee on Information and Technology (IT). If this Bill is passed, we will amend it to include issues of IT. This is the only way we can network and know what types of food are there in the county. We should not have people starving in some areas when there is plenty of food going to waste in other areas. For example, there was a lot of maize in North Rift and in some areas people lacked maize. In North Rift, farmers had a challenge in selling their crops. Some of them wanted to sell their maize in the neighbouring counties, but they could not access a market for it. I urge the Government to continue buying maize and milk from farmers. It can revive feeding programme so that it provides market for farmers’ produce as well as make our country food secure. 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."
}