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{
    "id": 94013,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/94013/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 89,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have just said a minute ago that we are involving our farmers. The Kenya Flower Council, the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya and the Fish Producers and Exporters Association are part of this negotiation process. These have been picked because they have direct exports that go to the EU. In terms of our farmers, the Kenya National Federation of Farmers has been part of feeding us into the process. It is not just the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture is part of this negotiation process. The Ministry of Agriculture then links us to all the producer associations and stakeholders, that is the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Fisheries, the Kenya Industrial Property Institute, the Kenya Investment Authority and the State Law Office. So, we involve all these people and not just in Kenya but similarly in Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. Due to our bringing together the collective knowledge of all these people we are able to say what products we must safeguard as a country. We have identified that 17 per cent of the tariff lines of the trade between the EU and the EAC is what we classify as sensitive products; for those there are no negotiations. We have been negotiating regarding all the others. I think it is important for this House to appreciate that Kenya produces about 30 per cent of her total demand; that is what is supplied internally. In Tanzania, I believe less than five percent is produced internally. Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi do not have any production of wheat. So, if you look at East Africa as a Customs Union, the total wheat produced within the economic block is less than 20 per cent of the total requirement by the block. In that kind of situation, you are very hard pressed to agitate for protection; you are only producing 20 per cent and relying on external sources for 80 per cent to satisfy the market. We will need to do more in terms of incentives to increase the production to at least 50 percent so that we can be able to bring in the other 50 per cent. By protecting 20 per cent of the industry you are basically harming the consumers of 80 per cent who have to pay expensively for the wheat. This is the situation we got ourselves into when we started protecting maize production. The consumers in town end up buying their maize flour at a higher price than that paid in the neighbourhood. On this particular one, I am happy that we are moving together in tandem; I am sure the wheat farmers will continue the production until they reach a point where they will saturate the market, so that there will be supply without excess demand."
}