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{
    "id": 980690,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/980690/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 301,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kilifi North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13373,
        "legal_name": "Owen Yaa Baya",
        "slug": "owen-yaa-baya"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. One of the things I want to say is that I am one of the people who would celebrate the death of the AFA Act. This is the first nail on the coffin of the Act because it has been responsible for destroying the agriculture sector in this country. The moment this Parliament passed the AFA Act in 2013 and lumped all the crops, namely, tea, coffee and sugar-cane, including crops from the Coast region like coconut, cashew nuts and bixa, we took a journey towards destruction of agriculture in the country. This country remains very agrarian. Therefore, the economy cannot move forward if we kill the agriculture sector. The Big Four Agenda of the President is anchored on manufacturing. What are we manufacturing? We can only manufacture what we can produce. What we produce in this country still remains agricultural crops. From the coffee farms, we can open factories. From tea farms and coconut trees, we can open factories. At the Coast, we used to have the Coconut Development Authority. It was a new thing, but the impact it had in the Coast in reviving the coconut industry was tremendous. The Authority was cut short because of the AFA Act. It was folded and we were told we were going to administer the production of coconut and all other attendant products from coconut from Nairobi. So, all the people moved from the Coast and came to Nairobi. Therefore, the coconut as an industry started collapsing. As I speak, coconut industry is dead. The over 40 products that can be derived from a coconut tree are no more. The only thing that we know is the coconut wine and makuti. This was as a result of the AFA Act. I am very happy the tea sector has started the journey and when the tea sector starts moving in the direction the Bill intends it to move, other crops will follow suit. Following suit means that we shall have the Coconut Development Authority and the Cashew Nut Authority back. It may be costly for this country to have the many parastatals, but the good thing is that there will be more efficiency in trying to revive the other crops."
}