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{
"id": 2251,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2251/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Chanzu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 11,
"legal_name": "Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu",
"slug": "yusuf-chanzu"
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"content": "However, it will not be possible for them to continue with this tea and coffee farming while carrying heavy loan burdens which they have incurred over the years. Save for one thing, there is need for the Government to write-off these loans. I think mechanisms should be put in place to cushion farmers, so that in future they do not accumulate loans which they will not be able to service. Even if we write off or waive these loans, without proper mechanism to cushion them, the same thing might recur. Unless they are properly cushioned against fluctuation of prices for their farm produce, this burden of loans may recur."
},
{
"id": 2252,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2252/?format=api",
"text_counter": 284,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Chanzu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 11,
"legal_name": "Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu",
"slug": "yusuf-chanzu"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is need for Kenya as an agricultural country to support these two sectors by making them profitable. However, we cannot make them profitable if farmers continue carrying this burden of excessive loans. That is why it is very important that the Government considers writing off these loans. There is need also to support these two sectors that are tea and coffee because they contribute a lot in terms of revenue generation for this Government. We should not rely on one source of revenue collection. That is taxation from incomes. We need to diversify our revenue collection through agricultural production. It will be easier for the Government to have some sources of revenue where it can count on. It is with that in mind, I believe the Government should consider writing off all these excess loans that have been incurred by the tea and coffee farmers in this country. There are many areas of this country where tea and coffee can be grown. Kenya seems to be divided into two zones when it comes to tea and coffee farming. We have the western zone and eastern zone. In the western zone, we have Mudete Tea factory. The Government spent colossal amounts of money to put up this factory. However, this factory is underutilized. This is because not many farmers are growing tea around that area. We need to encourage them to grow a lot of tea because they have a factory."
},
{
"id": 2253,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2253/?format=api",
"text_counter": 285,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Chanzu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 11,
"legal_name": "Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu",
"slug": "yusuf-chanzu"
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"content": "The other issue that we need to address is overhead costs within the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). When you look at what the farmers earn after deductions from loans and other overheads, farmers end up earning very minimum payment. We need to come up with incentives. If the Government can reduce overheads, farmers can grow a lot of tea and earn more revenue for this country. By employing many managers at the head office, we will not be helping farmers. We will not be worried about overtaxing Kenyans to meet our targets of revenue collection."
},
{
"id": 2254,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2254/?format=api",
"text_counter": 286,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Chanzu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 11,
"legal_name": "Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu",
"slug": "yusuf-chanzu"
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"content": "With those few remarks, I support the Motion. I hope the Government will move with speed and implement this Motion, so that farmers can be encouraged to grow more tea for the country."
},
{
"id": 2255,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2255/?format=api",
"text_counter": 287,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Njuguna",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 20,
"legal_name": "Peter Njuguna Gitau",
"slug": "peter-gitau"
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion."
},
{
"id": 2256,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2256/?format=api",
"text_counter": 288,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Njuguna",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 20,
"legal_name": "Peter Njuguna Gitau",
"slug": "peter-gitau"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to start by thanking the Mover of this Motion. This Motion is very timely, and can give impetus to the dwindling performance in the tea sector. Let me appreciate the critical effort that has been made by hon. Khalwale to think about farmers in this country. Tea has been the main cash crop in this country for a long time. It has done well in the international market. Kenya has been the lead exporting country in the whole world, producing the most qualitative cash crop into the national market. Even giving the name of this country to the entire world, particularly in Europe, where tea is deliciously taken by consumers in that part of the world. The Kenyan tea has been taken by other exporters and traders to blend other tea grown in other countries. Therefore, the credit of this country has been taken over by other undeserving traders."
},
{
"id": 2257,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2257/?format=api",
"text_counter": 289,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Njuguna",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 20,
"legal_name": "Peter Njuguna Gitau",
"slug": "peter-gitau"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, small scale farmers have created employment opportunities for the youth in this country. Tea picking is done by our youth, men and women, who have been employed in this sector for a long time. The KRA has also been collecting a lot revenue from this sector. The economic growth of this country has also steadily improved because of this vibrant sector. But we recognize that this sector was badly affected by the drought, meaning that the farmers were not able to buy the fertilizers for dressing the crop. The farmers were not able to pay workers. The farmers were not also able to meet their domestic obligations, one of them being paying for the education of their children."
},
{
"id": 2258,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2258/?format=api",
"text_counter": 290,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Njuguna",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 20,
"legal_name": "Peter Njuguna Gitau",
"slug": "peter-gitau"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the production of tea has been badly affected by inflation and drought. Due to inflation, the cost of diesel went up. Even firewood became very expensive. That means that the cost of production by tea factories went up. The production capacity went down in the small-scale farms. As a result, the farmers were not able to get good returns for their small-scale production. The factories were also affected and, therefore, the farmers were threatened with their small securities that they had provided to tea factories. This means that if the small-scale farmers are not assisted, their securities will be auctioned by the multinationals. That is impoverishing the farmers in this country."
},
{
"id": 2259,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2259/?format=api",
"text_counter": 291,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Njuguna",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 20,
"legal_name": "Peter Njuguna Gitau",
"slug": "peter-gitau"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is, therefore, important that we think of how to revive this key sector by way of supporting the farmers. One way of supporting the farmers is to bring the Government on board and make sure that those products that farmers use, like the seeds and fertilizers are made available in the market at cheaper prices. We recall that we passed a Motion in this House requesting the Government to start a fertilizer factory immediately. This is very important because it will assist this country to become self-sufficient in food production and on this main cash crop. It is, therefore, important and critical for the Government to come out now and bail out the small-scale farmers who are now crying. If the Government can support the farmers by writing-off the loans that have been advanced to them, it will really create the necessary working environment and bring back the productivity of this crop. As a result, the farmers will be able to educate their children. Tea has been a key cash crop, as I have said. Lari, in particularly, we have large areas where small-scale farmers have been growing tea. We do not want them to think about uprooting tea plants in these areas, the way the coffee farmers did as a result of the Coffee Board of Kenya being unable to pay them. Therefore, the threat that is directed to the small-scale tea farmers must be addressed by the Government. This is the time for the Government to rise up and release a lot of money to bail out the farmers. I would urge that decisive action is taken by the Government to make sure that this industry is brought back to its feet. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other area that I need to comment on is about tea hawking. This is also threatening the survival of the Kenya Tea Development (KTD) factories. We have seen small-scale tea farmers divert their tea to private processors. This is unhealthy because the farmers are trying to run away from their responsibilities after being advanced loans. This must be discouraged and the farmers supported to deliver their tea to the KTDA factories. This will only be possible if the Government can avail the required funds. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I fully support this crucial Motion."
},
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"id": 2260,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2260/?format=api",
"text_counter": 292,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Mbarire",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Tourism",
"speaker": {
"id": 78,
"legal_name": "Cecily Mutitu Mbarire",
"slug": "cecily-mbarire"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to begin by first congratulating Dr. Khalwale for coming up with this very important Motion. I support this Motion because I come from a tea- growing area. Part of the reason why I got educated to university level was because my father had tea and was able to have enough money to pay school fees for me through his tea farm. This Motion is timely because only recently have we seen that the prices of tea have gone fairly high. Farmers are finally beginning to have hope that they can do the things they have always wanted to do using money from tea. Looking at this Motion, I feel that it is very important that the Government steps in and waives all the loans owed by the public coffee and tea factories that we have. I have two of them in my constituency. I think that once that money is paid, farmers will reap greater gains out of their tea farming and can do a lot with their money. Although the crop has more money than it used to – for example in my place, tea farmers were being paid an average of between Kshs40 and Kshs41 per kilogramme - you will find that they will be deducted up to Kshs10 per kilogramme for these loans. Since I am aware that the same Government is waiving debts owed by coffee factories, then it is good that we deal with the whole burden on both coffee and tea farmers so that they are left debt-free. By doing so, we can begin to spur economic growth from the bottom. If this is done, I believe that we will not even have the pressure as Members of Parliament where we have to pay bursaries for many children at the constituency because the farmers cannot afford school fees. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I remember when I was in secondary school, every beginning of the term, I passed by the tea factory, got my cheque, went and paid my fees. However, this is not happening now and it cannot happen. Some of these debts are incurred because of high prices of farm inputs. For example, fertilizer is very expensive. The farmers borrow money to buy that fertilizer and have to pay it back with an interest. If we can waive these loans, I strongly believe that this is the best Christmas gift that we can give to the farmers of this country. I really urge the Government to hear us on this matter. We have spoken about it before but I am happy that, finally, an hon. Member has brought it on the Floor. I urge all hon. Members present to support this very important Motion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support"
}
]
}