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"id": 90861,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/90861/?format=api",
"text_counter": 154,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Kosgei",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Agriculture",
"speaker": {
"id": 13,
"legal_name": "Lucas Kipkosgei Chepkitony",
"slug": "lucas-chepkitony"
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"content": "Let me assure hon. Nkaisserry, and those hon. Members who have raised the issue of the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), that although livestock falls under another Ministry, we are concerned. As I assured him in Kajiado, we are going to develop a Paper and present it to the Cabinet with a view to assisting those people who suffered. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as far as wheat is concerned, we have some negotiated position. We think the farmers should be able to work for now, but my position has always been that we cannot overtax them before we have arranged the subsidies. That has not changed. To those who have talked about the importation of maize and the prices of maize, let me say that Kenya will not import maize unless it is abundantly clear to all and sundry that this has to be done. Our aim should be to encourage production. So, it will not happen unless it is clear to all of us. If someone else does it with a licence from elsewhere, the House and the rest of us should be able to call them to account. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Busia Sugar Factory is long overdue. We are working on that to see what can be done. I know that it is an old issue. There was a time when it was supposed to happen. It did not happen. We are still working on it. We are focussed on it. However, as I try constantly with my staff and the agricultural team to streamline some of these problems in the sugar industry, we are constantly threatened as if some hon. Members here do not want the sugar industry revitalised. We, in the Ministry, are determined to go ahead and revitalise it whichever way, without fear or favour. I want to specifically address the problem of aflatoxin. Although we did not ask for these machines, they have been given to us. The position given by the committee on agriculture is our position. We cannot go and dry maize and then have nowhere to take it. We want to tie the drying to the silos, so that once we dry the maize, we are able to store it. If a farmer brings his maize, or you go and dry his maize in his backyard and leave, and then it rains, what happens? That is why we want to tie the drying of the maize to the silos. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as for the prices of maize, as raised by hon. Musila and others, let me say that, that was not my price. It came as part of a committee decision. With a light touch, you, as a former long-serving civil servant, will probably have read that sometimes committees do not come out with desired results. We want the market to dictate the prices that we pay. As a matter of fact, we cannot insist that we pay Kshs2,300 per bag of maize, because we have to factor into it what the demand and supply sides alongside what we have done to assist the farmers, but it cannot be as low as Kshs1,500. That does not give us the guaranteed minimum returns. We are aware. We are alive, and we are working very hard to see that we can, in fact, ensure that farmers are paid. I keep hearing that there are some farmers in the North Rift, who have not received their money. I want to confirm that all the people who delivered their maize by last March have been paid. We do not normally get up on roof tops to sing what we do, but we have done that. The reason for saying it here is so that I stop getting messages asking, “When are you going to pay” when we have actually paid. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I spoke at length about the need for extension workers. I am pleased that it has been noted that this is important. There is no way farmers can make terraces, as they used to do in the past, without the guidance of extension workers, especially now that we want to preserve the environment. That is why we are looking for a little more funding to make sure that we have enough extension workers, who are well trained, and who can assist the farmers. About the training institutions, Tana River needs some proper training and proper development. We want that area developed. It is so vital for our food security. That is why we constantly ask for funding for that area. That is the same with the North Eastern Province, because we are accustomed to thinking that people in the North Eastern Province cannot produce food. They can if we give them proper irrigation. The soil is good enough. We are investigating all that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to agree with those who have said that it does not make sense at all for the Ministry of Agriculture to be asked to surrender its training institutions to other institutions of higher learning, and then be told: “Produce extension workers”. Where are we going to get them from? We are not going to ask the Treasury to give us money to build new training institutions. So, if we need institutions for higher learning, which we support, they are to be sourced from elsewhere rather than crush the Ministry of Agriculture and, therefore, the farmers and the consumers of our products. With those remarks, I beg to move."
}