Wilber Ottichilo Khasilwa

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 621 to 630 of 1320.

• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there was a time when extension services were so good and elaborate such that each farmer would be visited by an extension officer and get technical advice at the farm level. However, somehow, the policy changed during the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) where the Government through the World Bank was forced to come up with the idea of demand-driven policies where the World Bank advised the Ministry that unless farmers ask for extension workers, then the Ministry had no obligation to provide them. For that reason, from the time the extension workers were withdrawn and ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: If you go to other countries, be it in Asia or Europe, farmers are subsidized. I have stayed in the Netherlands for many years and the Government of the Netherlands subsidizes its farmers and they are given credit but in this country you will find that farm inputs are very expensive. Even when the Government comes in and says they are going to import farm inputs at a subsidized rate and give them to farmers, in the actual sense, when the farm inputs come here, particularly fertilizers, it is only the business people who eventually acquire those farm inputs and ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: As regards the extension officers, it is important that the Ministry must re-train them because most of these officers who are there have not been doing their work. Most of the time, they have been sitting in their offices and so they need to be re-trained. It is important that as the Ministry comes up with this policy, it must re-train its extension officers because in many cases, most farmers are even more knowledgeable than the extension officers. This is because some of the extension officers who come directly from the universities have never had any practical experience. They just ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as regards marketing, it is very important. Many a times our farmers are made to produce various crops through probably marketing by private agencies but when it comes to marketing of the products, sometimes the farmers are stuck with their products. In the long run farmers are discouraged and, therefore, they abandon the growing of those crops. I know there are very many private companies like even in western Kenya there is one that came to my constituency and we popularized the growing of capsicum – pilipili. I personally went out of the way to ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: One area where most of my colleagues have not talked about is aquiculture, fish farming. This is a very important and lucrative business and I want to thank the Ministry of Fisheries Development for the efforts they have made in the last four years to popularize aquiculture production in this country. This is one sector that can generate a lot of income for our farmers and provide protein for them. So this is an area where we need more extension officers. Currently, we have very few extension officers on fish farming and I think this is an area we need ... view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: The co-operative movements have been mismanaged particularly those dealing with agricultural produce and it is important that the Ministry works very closely with the Ministry of Co-operative Development and Marketing to revamp the co-operative societies and put in new management structures to ensure that the co-operative movement functions very well for the benefit of farmers. view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of organic farming is very important. We need to continue promoting organic farming because it is an area which is growing and we have a lot of interest in, particularly when it comes to the exports market. Most of the export markets need crops grown under organic environments and this is extremely important in terms of environmental conservation. So this is an area, again, where we need specialist extension officers in organic farming. view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: Finally, Kenya is notorious for producing some of the best policies in the world but when it comes to implementation, we do not do it. This is a great policy; I have gone through it and I can tell it is good as it covers everything but the problem is: Are we able to implement it or after we pass this policy that will be the end? So we ask the Minister, after we pass this policy, to come up with a Bill that will operationalise it so that it can be implemented. view
• 1 Aug 2012 in National Assembly: With those many remarks, I beg to support. view
• 31 Jul 2012 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to ask the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife the following Question by Private Notice. (a) Could the Minister confirm that the Government has approved the de- gazzettement of parts of Nairobi National Park for the construction of the Nairobi Southern By-Pass Road against the recommendation of NEMA? (b) Is the Minister aware that the de-gazzettement of any national park in the country is prohibited by law without the approval of Parliament? (c) Is the Minister further aware that implementation of the proposed de- gazzettement will set a dangerous precedent for demands for de-gazzettement of various ... view