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{
    "id": 948721,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/948721/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 303,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Nyamunga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 738,
        "legal_name": "Rose Nyamunga Ogendo",
        "slug": "rose-nyamunga-ogendo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we kill tea and coffee farming as a result of the issues that affect the agricultural sector, we are killing this nation. We write very good papers on policies. Kenya has got the best brains and we brag about that. However, if the brains cannot put food on the table for Kenyans, they are not helping us. I do not want to use unbecoming language in this House but it is unfortunate that agriculture sector is dying and we know the reasons which we have highlighted yet the Government does nothing about it. The farmers are already uprooting the tea plants. Coffee farmers in Central Kenya also uprooted the coffee plant a while ago. What is going to be our income earner? Tea and coffee have been major income earners but they are being uprooted and nothing is replacing them. Despite making policies, we should make deliberate attempts to make sure that we support farmers for them to stop uprooting the crops because plants such as tea and coffee take a long time to start yielding. We are letting our people down as a nation. We are supporting other economies by taking raw tea to other countries for processing for it to be brought back as a finished product for us to buy it so expensively. In all the supermarkets, you will find all brands of tea underlying whatever else they have put to add value to increase its price. We export coffee to other countries then import refined coffee that is very expensive. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support this report. However, it does not make sense if we do reports all the time and do nothing about them when we know very well that we must put proper structures in place to support the agricultural sector. We know the issues that are ailing the agricultural sector. We cannot pretend to do anything or even speak in this House for the sake of it. The most important thing is that the people at the grassroots must be supported. These people toil over the years, take care of their coffee or tea to make sure that they yield, but at the end of it all, they get nothing. They cannot even break even. Therefore, what is happening in our country is very unfortunate. As long as we continue relying on rain-fed agriculture, we have to realign and make sure that we put proper structures. Right now it is dry, but a time will come when there will be a lot of flooding in this land. This is the time we should be preparing to make use of the rains that are coming."
}