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{
    "id": 980720,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/980720/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 331,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Konoin, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Leonard Yegon",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13391,
        "legal_name": "Yegon Brighton Leonard",
        "slug": "yegon-brighton-leonard"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I want to support the Tea Bill (Senate Bill No.36 of 2018). It is for the prime purpose that agriculture is the mainstay of Kenya’s economy. Two, tea is the first foreign income earner among the crops that we have in Kenya. Three, in my constituency, 80 per cent of the economy and livelihood is pegged on tea. We grow tea almost in every part of my constituency. The lives of more than 600,000 small holder tea farmers in my constituency are touched, especially those under the KTDA. Talk of Chepchabas, Embomos, Mogogosiek, Boito and many others are characterised by poverty, low income and shortchange. The KTDA, as an agency, has mastered the art of bleeding a leech to fatten a heifer. That is why this Tea Bill is coming in handy to rescue the farmer. When you look at the functions of this Bill, because I have read it to the last page, the provision of regulation, development and promotion of the tea industry is a very fundamental aspect it is trying to address. When you talk about promotion of the Kenyan tea internationally, at the moment we are using traditional markets. When we focus on promotion, it means we have to think of diversification of the market and the leaves that we produce. Kenyan tea is CTC roller processed black tea. We should diversify and look at green tea. China is the first producer of tea in the entire world and it consumes almost 90 per cent of it. It is basically green tea. So, we should look at the aspect of the market for green tea and orthodox tea. This Bill will also establish standards and the manner of grading and classification of tea and its products. We realised that the testing that is done in Mombasa is not scientific. It is upon the officer who tastes to classify and say this is the best tea and the other is not the best tea. That is why we have variations in prices. If you look at the bonus of other regions and the bonus of Bomet and Kericho regions, there is a big variance and most of it is arrived at using biasness. We need this Board to control the blending, packaging and labelling of our tea for the purpose of traceability. For example, you can find Kericho Gold Tea packaged in the United 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."
}