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"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity to welcome our visitors from Light Academy in Nairobi. We have two Light Academies, one in Nairobi and the other one in Mombasa County. This is one of the progressive schools that we have in this country. I want to report that also my son is a part of this delegation. He is in Form 4. I want to appreciate their performance in last year's Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). They were one of the top schools both for the school in Nairobi and the one in Mombasa. Therefore, I encourage the Form 4s that are currently doing revisions to follow the footsteps of their brothers that left last year. Madam Temporary Speaker, I also advise those who want to pursue their career in politics that this is a very good career. Those who want to fit in those shoes can do that. I know my son is a bit sceptical on whether he should join politics, but I wish him well wherever he wants to go in the future. I encourage the school and the five teachers that are here that we are happy for your visit. I know you have also visited the National Assembly and learnt one or two things during your visit. The Members who are not in this House are in the committees doing other Senate work. They are not asleep or at home. They are out doing other duties pertaining the Senate. I thank you very much for your visit. I wish you all the best in your academic work. Thank you."
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"content": " Sen. Mungatana."
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"speaker": null,
"content": "(Resumption of debate on Motion)"
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
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"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity. May I start by congratulating Hon. David Wakoli, the new Chairman of the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. This is one of our growing stars in the Senate and I am so proud of him. He has been an extremely useful basketball player for this Bunge. I am glad to see that his discipline and dedication has been translated to this committee as the chairperson. As a first-time Senator, he has done well and I thank the people of Bungoma County for bringing him here. Madam Temporary Speaker, this is a sad report. It is an indictment of the attitude we have had to our farmers over a long period of time. The petitioner who has brought this matter to the Senate, Mr. Kiprono Hillary, has done so because he has tried to deal with the various Government agencies for assistance and do all other things, but has failed. He has resorted to the Senate because they have been suffering from this disease for 12 years. The MLND has plagued these farmers for the last 12 years. They said that in 2011 they noticed a plague that was killing their maize crops in Longisa Division, Bomet County. They gave it a local name, Koriot to try and describe the problem because they did not know what it was. When you translate that word in their vernacular, it means plague. They could not explain what was happening. It then spread to higher altitudes of Bomet County and went further to the neighbouring counties. It has now reached the Senate after 12 years. In 2012, 90 per cent of the crop in Bomet County failed and it became very serious. They looked for help in the national and county government, but the attitude has not been supportive. They have now landed here. The problem of the maize disease is a reflection of what has happened. I am saying this because even farmers in my county, particularly the maize farmers in Bura Irrigation Scheme, have not received the kind of support they would expect from their county government. Our farmers continue to suffer and there is no proper response. Can you imagine that despite all the effort that our farmers in Bura Irrigation make do not have any form of active allocation from the county government? It is like they do not deserve to get any support from the county government. We appreciate what the national Government is doing in Tana River to support these farmers. We appreciate the visits that His Excellency the President made last Thursday to deal with the irrigation issues and availability of water for the farmers. However, while the rest of the country are celebrating that fertilizers prices have been dropped from Kshs7,000 to 2,500, KSC buy the same fertiliser for Kshs2,500 and sell it to farmers at Kshs4,700 in Tana River County in Bura, yet it is a Government agency. They give these farmers the fertilizer and then deduct from them when the harvest comes. Farmers are wondering why they are not making money. It is like some sort of a loan, which is later on deducted from the money they are supposed to pay these farmers. That is another example of lack of support for local farmers. Madam Temporary Speaker, the petitioner, Mr. Hillary, has said that they have not had support in the fight for saving their crop--- The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Is his time up? How many more minutes does he have?"
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"content": "(The Clerk-at-the Table consulted with the Temporary Speaker)"
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"content": "Sen. Mugatana, you have 14 more minutes. The system is faulty. Please come to the Dispatch Box."
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"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I have another example of lack of support for our farmers. I am now focussing on Tana River County. You will find that loans that were advanced to them by the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) and Equity Bank have left almost all the farmers on the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB). They now cannot get any more loans to support the next crop just like the farmers in Bomet County. Due to the lack of support, money that comes to help them start working comes from commercial sources. When they fail to pay because of the lack of support from county governments, they are left with loans. The Senate, through the Standing Committee of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and the adoption of this report, is telling the executive and our various county governments to put more effort in supporting our farmers. This is the biggest employer across the entire Republic of Kenya. May we put money where it will support our farmers. I fully agree with one of the recommendations here that says we give money or loans to support the Bomet farmers to start again. The Bomet County farmers are looking for loans, which is okay. However, the Tana River County farmers are urging that the national Government to steps in because this is about Kshs103 million for all the farmers in the Bura Irrigation Scheme. We have made this request and we hope it will be considered. These farmers' loans will be waived so that they are given a fresh start. In Bomet, they should be given support to start again. This is because when you have lost all your crops, you have lost everything. Again, crop insurance is one of the recommendations. A lot of work goes into preparing the land and buying inputs for the farms. If anything goes wrong, whether rains are delayed, water from irrigation is delayed or dried up, or machines break down, then we lose the whole crop. If this should happen and there is no crop insurance, then it is a total loss to these farmers. Madam Temporary Speaker, I repeat that we need to support our farmers more, put in more effort, especially financial effort and bring crop insurance to our farmers so that they can survive in these tough economic times. I want to take my seat. However, I will congratulate Mr. Hillary for bringing this petition before the Senate. I thank again the Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries for their work. It is important for us to realise that without farmers, Kenya is sunk. This is the biggest employer. This is where we should be putting our money. It is an indictment on this Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development at the national The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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"content": "level and our various Ministries of Agriculture at the county level that for 12 years now, we have not helped the farmers of Bomet County. The risk is that the disease is spreading to other parts of the country. So, I fully support this report. I pray that as we endorse, accept and vote in support of it, that various agencies mentioned in it and who were called before the committee will effect the recommendations of the Senate and help the farmers of Bomet as well as farmers in other parts of this country. I support this report. Thank you."
}
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