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{
    "id": 980037,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/980037/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 283,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Karachuonyo, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Adipo Okuome",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13362,
        "legal_name": "Andrew Adipo Okuome",
        "slug": "andrew-adipo-okuome-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Bill that I support. I support the Bill which is going to promote tea farming. But in addition to that, I think we should not restrict ourselves to any particular sector of our agricultural activities. It is important that we should remember that we have the sugar industry which is almost dying because we are not giving it much attention. Cotton is another very important sector that is dying. We should not allow these important agricultural activities to go down the drain, because this is why we have some problems with our foreign exchange. Cashewnuts and groundnuts also need attention. We need to diversify to cover all these areas because they are important for us. I remember when I was still a young boy growing up and going to school, cotton was such an important crop that was contributing to our education. Our fees was being paid through cotton farming but now cotton is almost a forgotten issue. Soya bean is another crop for which we need to carry out some research and find out what is happening. Cotton is required in almost every country. If we could concentrate on it, we would be able to increase our income. Ever since Kenya started its economy, agriculture was known to be the basis of our economy. We were called an agricultural country. Now I do not know whether we are still an agricultural country, because we import almost everything we need—even foodstuffs which are agriculture-based are being imported. So, my appeal is that we should expand and even have one authority that takes care of all agricultural activities, with various departments concentrating on each sector. This is necessary so that we can emphasise agricultural productivity in this country. I even see universities do not take agriculture as anything important. But it is important that The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}