- Coffee farmers in Mutira are counting losses as night thefts target mature berries.
- Residents have called for action against suspected thieves and buyers of stolen coffee.
- Farmers are spending more to hire night guards as insecurity threatens their harvests.
Coffee farmers in Mutira are decrying rampant theft of mature berries from their farms after two people were arrested with 10 kilogrammes of raw berries they intended to sell.
Mutira Ward MCA Kinyua Wangui said the two suspects are part of a gang of seven determined to torment coffee farmers. According to him, the thieves strike between 1am and 3am and target farms owned by elderly people.
Through collaboration with Nyumba Kumi leaders, residents traced two of the seven to a rented house in Kagumo town in the wee hours of the morning. They found the suspects with raw coffee and handed them over to police at Kagumo.
Meanwhile, Francis Gacharei suffered a double blow after night thieves harvested his green berries and destroyed the stems that were meant to mature next season.
Village elder Phillip Wachira said coffee theft and the destruction that comes with it are very high in the area. He called for collaboration among coffee farmers.
“Coffee theft in farms is very high in the area. We have been able to arrest two out of seven individuals whom we found in a rented house in Kagumo. They could not explain why they had raw cherries in the morning hours. We handed them over to the police as investigations begin to net the other five,” said Wachira.
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Kinyua urged the judiciary not to be lenient with the suspects, saying they will attack without mercy once released.
“I urge the judiciary not to be lenient with them since the theft is very rampant. They should be given a stiffer penalty that will be hard for them to pay,” Kinyua added.
He also urged police to investigate thoroughly and arrest the five who escaped. In addition, he asked them to charge the brokers who receive the stolen produce alongside the two suspects.
“I urge the police to do a thorough investigation and bring the other five and the brokers who are sending and buying the raw coffee to book,” the MCA added.
The thefts have also forced farm owners to spend extra money hiring Maasai men as night guards to protect their coffee.
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