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{
    "id": 831105,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/831105/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 202,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Makueni, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Daniel Maanzo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "experience which has been very successful. We can only improve it in the Third Reading to the extent of killing the NCPB Act under the National Cereals Board Act. This is because we will have two parallel systems doing the same thing and they should be synchronised by law. There are other Acts of Parliament, like the Crops Act which deals with the same thing. We now have the Coffee Tea and Sugar Acts with their regulations. All these Acts will end up in warehouses and this will have serious financial implications because who will develop the warehouse system? How is it going to be managed? This must come out in this law so that we can avoid the cartels and the systems we have had before. We have heard of an electronic system versus a manual one. I believe the two should complement each other and tie-up. The farmers should keep their manual and electronic records which can be accessed in the system. So, at any one given time, they can know how much of their produce is still in the store, how much has been marketed and what is sold. The issue of marketing farmers’ produce and co-operatives then comes back. In the counties, there are many co-operative warehouses which the county governments are managing very well. For example, in Makueni, we have one in Kathonzweni, Ukia and a very beautiful one at Mukuyuni where they also store fertilisers. We also have a grain storage which was built by the national Government. How will the existing infrastructure be utilised because part of it was funded by the Government? Also private entrepreneurs have come up with the new business system of building warehouses all over the country. Kenya is an agricultural country and we have grains everywhere. The rains are about to start and so, in a few months, we will need storage and marketing for our grains. Recently, there were heavy rains and a lot of food was produced. We should have quality storage of food which will ensure it does not become moldy or gets aflatoxin. Also, it should process the grains so as to add value. We have the Galana Kulalu Maize Irrigation Scheme. I remember President Uhuru Kenyatta challenged the team when we went to launch the scheme that they should not follow him back to Nairobi. His dream is that it should grow up to one million acres. I believe this will be realised with the construction of Thwake Dam in Makueni. We will have a lot of produce but how will we manage it for the benefit of the farmer? I have not seen that answer in this Bill. How are we going to solve the problems we have seen in Eldoret? Farmers there are wishing they are dead other than living in a country where their seed is stolen. People have forged papers to show that they have supplied up to 200 million kilogrammes of grain to warehouses owned by NCPB. This is theft and it squeezes Kenyans. This law should address the problem which the Senate went to witness in the Rift Valley. We should improve the lives of farmers in this country using this law. National Assembly and the Senate have the opportunity to solve farmers’ problems once and for all. If we do not amend this law, seriously and substantially at Third Reading, it is as useless as the NCPB Act. It will not be useful to the country and it will result to the same failure mainly because of corruption and systems which are loosely tied, such that people can maneuver and con farmers. We need to address these matters once and for all by using this law. I will be one of the Members in this House who will be bringing amendments in the Third Reading to strengthen it. I will make proposals to amend and delete the NCPB Act which does not conform to the Constitution. Agriculture and its products are devolved and, therefore, what is the role of counties in the current grain storage system? Our farmers are suffering because the national Government is handling it, but the county governments are not counter-checking. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}