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This is the Agriculture Report. |
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Kenyan farmers say |
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a British ban on the plant known as khat |
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will seriously affect their business and economy. |
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Exports of khat, also called "miraa" |
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are worth big money to Kenya. |
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The farmers have exported the plant mainly to Britain, |
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other European countries and Somalia. |
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Khat is growing in the colder climates of central Kenya. |
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For years, people have been using it as a drug, |
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biting on the leaves of the plant, |
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can increase the heart beat |
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and make the person feel more awake. |
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Some Kenyan politicians and khat traders |
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have called on the government to open talks |
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with British officials to convince them to cancel the ban on khat. |
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They say ending the ban would save Kenya's khat industry from collapse. |
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Kipkorir Menjo is the director of the Kenya Farmers Association, |
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he says the ban will affect tens of thousands of people. |
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"The miraa industry is going to face a serious challenge |
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because they are people in the supply chain, |
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the farmers who are planting the crop, |
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fellows who have been distributing, |
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fellows who have been exporting. |
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The whole industry is likely to collapse |
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because this is a major market |
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which has been earning this people good money, |
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of course also earning the country foreign exchange." |
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Earlier this month, |
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British Home Secretary Theresa May banned the leafy stimulant. |
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She warned that traders could use Britain |
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to move khat illegally to other European countries. |
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Jephat Muroko is the head of the Global Miraa Industry Dealers Network, |
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he says the British's decision was made for political reasons. |
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"To me it's a pure politics, |
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and not only politics but also oppressive to the miraa industry traders. |
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I think it's part of the consequences. |
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But I wonder about our government, why it's quiet about this thing." |
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Khat is already banned in most European countries, |
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including France, Germany, and Netherlands. |
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Kenyan traders exported about 20 tons of khat |
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to the Netherlands weekly before the ban. |
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Another 36 tons a week were sent to Britain. |
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Kipkorir Menjo says khat farmers and traders |
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need to start speaking up, so that Britain can lift the ban. |
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If their efforts fail, he says, |
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they will have to start planting other crops to earn money. |
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"If there will be no headway then they will have to think for other options, |
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but I think for now I don't want to conclude that nobody will listen to them. |
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Hopefully they will get some way out, |
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but if it's not possible they will have to think |
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some other ways of getting their livelihood." |
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As the farmers and traders study the latest development from Europe, |
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another battle awaits them inside Kenya: |
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The National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse |
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is urging the government to list khat as an illegal drug. |
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And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English. |