Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 787309,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/787309/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 295,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kositany",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13483,
        "legal_name": "Caleb Kipkemei Kositany",
        "slug": "caleb-kipkemei-kositany"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to contribute. The issue that has been raised by the Honourable Member for Moiben touches on the backyard where I come from and on the people that I represent in this House. It is sad that year in, year out, the farmer who feeds this nation is always crying for payment. We need to find a permanent solution to this problem. As we speak, we thank the Government for the subsidised fertiliser, but we also urge it to get its act right. Somebody somewhere is sleeping or slept on the job because we cannot have a surplus amount of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) fertiliser for top dressing which we will need in the next two to three months and have a shortage of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) and the other fertilisers that we require for planting now. As the Government works on paying the farmer in time, we also request that they investigate so that we know whether there are cartels which are conniving with officials in the ministry. This is because we know there are people who are in the private business of selling fertiliser. They could be interfering or rather conniving with the officers in the ministry such that the Government does not import enough fertiliser for them to sell theirs at higher prices. As this goes forward, I think very soon we will be calling a meeting as the representatives of the people in order to sit down with farmers. From next year it will not be business as usual. We will want the farmer to be paid interest for money owed to him by Government until the time he is paid in full because we take loans to go to the farm. Some of the loans are from Government-owned institutions like the AFC and they never stop charging interest. Once we have delivered the crop, we will want that the AFC or any financial institution stops charging the farmer interest once he has harvested and he has been paid, then the farmer can meet his obligations. As we proceed on these matters, we also want a serious plan by the NCPB. It has been a big letdown. We cannot have queues year in, year out. We need to draw up a special programme of how farmers will deliver their maize with ease. Currently, if you visit Eldoret Town and Moi’s Bridge, you will see long queues of lorries which have been there for two weeks now. That lorry has been hired by the farmer. The owner of the lorry charges daily rates. By the time you deliver your 100 bags of maize, the profit from 20 bags has been utilised on transport and what we call demurrage."
}