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{
    "id": 980026,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/980026/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 272,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Isiolo North, KPP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Hassan Hulufo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13348,
        "legal_name": "Hassan Oda Hulufo",
        "slug": "hassan-oda-hulufo-2"
    },
    "content": "Looking at the proposed Bill, I do not think that without adequate funding, creation of the proposed authority will cure the ills affecting the tea sector at the moment. I have looked at the challenges that other crops are facing and realised that it is very easy to pick out AFA and blame it. However, if you look critically at the problem, it lies in poor funding of the Authority and the directorates which are supposed to address issues related to scheduled crops. Tea is one of the schedule crops. Actually, it is number two on the list. The Tea Directorate should be funded well so that it does not abdicate its responsibilities to KTDA because it is supposed to lead in supporting tea farmers in terms of promoting research on tea crop, facilitating market both internally and externally and so on. Much of the problems revolve around marketing, our farmers getting the right prices and also earning the right amount of money for the efforts that they put in. The perspective is failure by the Government to provide adequate funding for AFA and, therefore, by extension, to various directorates which are supposed to regulate the scheduled crops. Therefore, with those facts, I will be hesitant to support this Bill in its current form. I will support what the earlier speaker said. We only need to look at how we can fortify the AFA Act and the Crops Act. We need to find ways of making the National Treasury appreciate the importance of tea. We could decide to give the Ministry of Agriculture adequate money so that the bulk of it goes towards the promotion of tea, coffee and other important crops. That should be the way to go. With those few remarks, I do not support the Bill in its current form."
}