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{
"id": 908484,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/908484/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherargei",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13217,
"legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when you walk anywhere in Uasin Gishu, the economy of farmers, especially maize farmers be it in Nandi, Kitale or Trans Nzoia counties, the poorest of the poor in terms of farming are the maize farmers. However, many years ago, the richest farmers were those who were planting maize in this Republic. The staple food for the entire country is ugali, which is gotten through planting of maize. I expected my brothers, who are the ugali eaters, to be here. However, since Sen. Kwamboka, as a delegate from that area--- The more we ensure the scarcity of maize in the country, the more we create an acute shortage and food insecurity. As I conclude, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, one of the Big Four Agendas of the President is food security. However, when we mishandle the maize farmers and the production of maize in this country, we create food insecurity, yet the President has put it as one of the key agendas. The only way to sustain farming in this country is for us to introduce value addition and protective measures. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I know that you have been travelling across the country or the world. Every airport of First World countries that you walk into in Europe, they will always tell you to declare if you have any agricultural products. What does that mean? It is a protective measure to ensure that the farmers who plant in that country are given priority and protected from the cartels or people who want to take advantage. This is because food is one of the biggest businesses. Forty million plus Kenyans need to eat daily. We have seen millers complaining and the NCPB not mopping up enough maize. We have even seen how they were mopping up maize in the entire Republic, especially in the North Rift, especially Uasin Gishu, Nandi and Trans Nzoia counties. One needed a title deed to show that they were giving out maize. I hope that our brothers in the National Assembly are listening to us. In the next one or two days, when they will be passing the budget, the allocation to the agricultural sector should be more skewed towards the maize sector. They must allocate more money to buying of maize because it is one of the key sectors in this Republic. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I challenge the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries to borrow policies from anywhere in the world, where the farmer is protected from all unfair trade businesses. We need to relook at the National Subsidy Programme (NSP), not only for the maize farmers, but also for the tea, sugarcane and dairy farmers. The other day there was a proposal of regulations that people should not use ordinary manure to plant their crops. Similarly, there was another proposal that in the dairy sector people could not sell non-pasteurized milk, yet we know that Kenyans depend on these small-scale farmers to survive. I warn the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries that if they do not take care, they will mess with the farming of this country and create a hungry country. When the citizens are hungry, it becomes insecure for all of us. They should not travel that route. They should add more subsidies to maize farmers, ensure we have friendly and better prizes for maize farmers and give them all the necessary machinery, now that changes are happening. If we do this, they can produce more. Last year we produced over 46 million bags of maize in this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support my neighbour and colleague, Sen. (Prof) Kamar. She has been passionate about this issue and gone a great length. I happened to be The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}