Coffee farmers in Kirinyaga County are crying out for help following a surge in theft of ripe coffee cherries, with many suspecting that organized cartels are behind the crimes.
The thieves are said to be harvesting the cherries at night or during the day when farmers are away from their farms. The most affected areas are Kirinyaga Central and Gichugu constituencies, where the thefts have become rampant as the coffee harvesting season peaks.
In Kiamuruga Village, Ndimi Location, several farmers are counting heavy losses after unknown individuals raided their farms and stripped their coffee bushes bare.
One of the victims, Joyce Kiragu, said she was devastated to find her entire harvest gone.
“I went to the farm with my grandson to harvest, but I was shocked to find that all the cherries had been taken the previous night. I have incurred a huge financial loss,” she said.
Residents now fear that the thefts are being coordinated by coffee cartels who resell the stolen cherries to private millers offering cash payments.
The farmers are appealing to local security teams to step up night patrols and crack down on brokers and millers suspected of buying stolen produce.
“We have worked hard for months only for thieves to benefit from our sweat. We need protection and action,” said another farmer in the area.
The thefts threaten to undermine coffee production in Kirinyaga, one of Kenya’s top coffee-growing regions, where smallholder farmers depend heavily on the crop for their livelihoods.
Farmers are calling on authorities to tighten surveillance in coffee zones and bring to justice those behind the growing menace that now risks discouraging many from coffee farming altogether.
