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{
    "id": 937929,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/937929/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 77,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mwea, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Josphat Kabinga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13441,
        "legal_name": "Josphat Kabinga Wachira",
        "slug": "josphat-kabinga-wachira-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I hope the four minutes will be enough. I want to support the Motion by my brother, Dr. Mutunga. It is very timely. It is coming at a time when all our farmers are crying. All the people who depend on farming in this country are having no coin in their pockets. When you trace the history of this country, you realise that those days when we had focused on agriculture, when Kenya was known for its export of agricultural products, Kenya was at peace and Kenyans were all having something to enjoy. But today, we have tea farmers, coffee farmers, milk farmers, livestock farmers and rich farmers in Mwea who produce the most famous Pishori Rice, crying because there is no focus especially from the Government. It is for that reason that I support this Motion. We need to support the Kenya National Farmers’ Federation, so that it can be strong enough to be felt on the ground and to organise farmers from different sectors to come up with cooperative societies that will maintain a database to be shared with the Government, so that it can plan for its support to the agriculture sector. Without a well-maintained database and mapping of farmers in this country, the Government will have haphazard importation of items like fertiliser, which might be brought in when farmers probably do not need it or when it is late. By maintaining a database of farmers and mapping the farmers, the Government will be able to prepare for markets. Today, farmers in Mwea are harvesting their rice. As they are doing so, nobody is bothered about the market. They are, therefore, at the hands of brokers who come from all walks of life in Kenya. They buy the rice at throw-away prices, keep it and make a lot of money after a small period of time. It is high time we focused on our farmers. It is high time we got timely as a country, so that even as we produce, somebody somewhere is ahead of time. Somebody somewhere is looking for markets for the produce. I am also aware that even as the farmers are struggling, we are having no support in any of the areas. The same brokers who are buying from our farmers, and this is very serious and pathetic, have weighing machines that are not calibrated by the Government agencies."
}