Lucas Kipkosgei Chepkitony

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 281 to 290 of 624.

• 15 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. (a) There has been no dumping of cheap maize or wheat into the country, but importations have been done to offset shortfalls in the consumption demands. (b) Kenya farmers will be disadvantaged because the prices of the imported wheat are much lower than the locally produced ones. This is because our production costs are very high. Fertilizers come from outside and they are expensive. We, as a Ministry, are endeavouring to address this cost of production by ensuring that cost effective certified seed is available and that we could possibly do something about ... view
• 15 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I have already said, the local wheat and maize tends to be expensive because of the cost of production. Since we are talking about wheat, I have already given you an answer on that. In the case of maize, we have been more aggressive in giving them low-cost fertilizer through Government subsidies. In the case of seed, we have also tried that. With the farmers who are small-scale, these are being offered at a low cost. In the case of wheat, we cannot actually tell you that we will go out and look for a market, ... view
• 15 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have not contradicted myself at all. I have not said that maize is costing Kshs1,000. I have explained the case of wheat. We are aware of the problem in Narok and we are trying to address it where we can. As you may very well know, that was a policy for the East African Community, which the Ministry is rejecting on the grounds that any agricultural policy has to be controlled by the host countries. This is what happens all over the world and that is what we are trying to address. If you are now ... view
• 15 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish to thank the hon. Member for raising that important question. The agricultural sector in this country is currently controlled by 12 different Ministries. Some of the crops that, in fact, go into our market do not get actually controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture. Since you mentioned the East African Community issue, my experience or reading of the situation from elsewhere--- You will no doubt be aware of the running battle of the common agricultural policy within the European Union which each country is protecting. If you must go ahead with those things, you must, ... view
• 15 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Member for bestowing yet another title on me - spokeswoman of the farmers. Thank you for that. I have already said, and I want to say it again, that we are trying to subsidize fertilizer so that farmers can be able to produce competitively. That is not new. It has been done for the last two years in the Ministry. We are fighting to see that we have sufficient resources to do so. Since you have talked about the other side which has to do with the Strategic Grain Reserve, yes, ... view
• 15 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, that may be so. However, as you know, the basic ingredients for fertilizer are not available in this country at the moment. We know that Tanzania has some phosphate and may be producing some fertilizer. So, we hope that, under the new common market, we will benefit from that. But let me tell you this: In the last two months or so, we have held meetings in that Ministry with three to four possible organizations that can work with us to set up a fertilizer plant here. Our problem has been that we are not ready since ... view
• 15 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to hear from the Minister whether he has any plans to repair all the roads. He should not wait until we come to ask questions here. What plans does he have to routinely maintain all the roads in the country so that they are not dilapidated and completely impassable? view
• 13 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, of the amount allocated to the district, could the Minister give a breakdown as to how much goes to vehicle maintenance and running of the vehicles? How much is for the equipment and so forth? view
• 13 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, when the hydro-power project was built, it was a multi-purpose project. What has KenGen done to assist irrigated agriculture below the dam? view
• 7 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my name is Dr. Sally Kosgei and not Mrs. Beth Mugo. I saw him. He was seated at the table next to mine. view