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{
    "id": 814941,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/814941/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 86,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13184,
        "legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
        "slug": "abshiro-soka-halake"
    },
    "content": "For instance, one thing that is largely absent – perhaps I may have missed as I was reading through this Bill – is the management of water for informal irrigation by communities. I do not know if irrigation is just about some big schemes that Government has put in place, with an authority to manage and some money put to it, disenfranchises communities and, therefore, loads over a community with every aspect. I do not know if irrigation is much broader to include even management of water and water sources that also facilitate, support and encourage communities, even in the informal irrigation that communities engage in. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, 80 per cent of farmers in this country consists of small- holder peasant farmers, who are the women of this country. They do not belong to big schemes and we cannot talk of that as the engine and driver of food security in this country. A Bill that blacks out this aspect of informal irrigation and the facilitation of these women, peasant farmers and the formal irrigation that should be taking place and then focuses on just schemes and defines everything, through the perspective and the lanes of big farms and irrigation schemes like the Galana-Kulalu and Mwea, in my opinion, misses the point. It does not empower communities or facilitate food security at the household level. It just has in mind a different and narrower definition that I would have liked and imagined this to be. When you look at the Authority that is being established, the word “scheme” is mentioned so many times. One of them is “public scheme.” I have highlighted it at every single clause, for instance, under Clause 8, where it gives the functions of the Authority 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."
}