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{
    "id": 978970,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/978970/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 176,
    "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": "their own benefit. It is a shame that some of them are actually public institutions. Some of them are co-operatives and yet, they do not find it necessary to protect the interest of the same farmer they are supposed to protect. Quite often than not, you will find a farmer going to some of those institutions with 100 kilogrammes of produce, but he ends up being given 60 kilogrammes. So, this is an area that requires to be really looked into. I also hope that that institution will look at how farmers are handled out there. Quite often than not our tea farmers sleep at the buying centres. For 12 hours, they wait for KTDA vehicles to come and buy their products. Nobody cares because they know they do not have any other choice. It is my hope that we will start valuing our farmers and knowing how they are helping us in this country not only monetarily, but also on food security and other areas so that we can respect and dignify them. Having a farmer sleep at a buying centre for 12 hours waiting for a vehicle is unacceptable in modern Kenya. I hope this board will look at some of those areas. That board will be expected to regulate the licencing of the industry. At the same time, I hope that particular board will work closely with the private sector with a view to expand markets and ensure that the different players are fully capacitated to reach out to the markets out there because the private sector will continue to play an important role in the industry. I want to turn to the counties which have a lot of responsibility in the agricultural sector. Counties in this area are not doing very well. We hope that the national Government will capacitate counties to play the role that is expected as spelt out in this Bill. We have realised across the board – and I have seen it even in the rice industry – before the agricultural sector was devolved, there was a lot of support to farmers. We had the national Government posting extension officers and other officers out there. The county governments have taken the responsibility, but they have not executed it. We do not have extension officers helping our farmers. For that reason, the production costs have increased because of lack of support from counties. For that reason, I hope that as we develop the operationalisation regulations for this Bill, we will look at the areas that have posed a major challenge to our farmers and also look at the areas that have increased the production costs even before we focus on the markets. That is because we may get markets and money out there but is it reaching the pockets of the farmer? How are we ensuring that the farmer, through the research and support of those extension services, is supported to ensure that the cost reduces? I, therefore, call upon those that will be charged with the responsibility of writing the regulations that will operationalise this Bill to ensure that the responsibilities for the county governments, in particular, are well spelt out. If that is not done, we will see two entities – the national Government and the county governments – trying to focus and work on the same thing yet; it will be causing a lot of confusion even to the farmer. Therefore, we need very clear laws and responsibilities for the two levels of government and to know what to expect from whom. I have seen it in the rice industry. We are still suffering in many areas and I hope that the tea industry, now that we have this Bill… Before we bring in the Rice Board of Kenya, this Bill will be a good precedent. Thank you and I support."
}