Management boards from twenty seven coffee primary co-operative societies affiliated to the Gusii Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union have been challenged to take urgent action to weed out 'ghost'coffee farmers in their societies to assure farmers of better coffee earnings.
GCFCU chairman Mr Robert Mainya has reminded management boards from the Union's affiliate co-operative societies that,having 'ghost' coffee farmers in their coffee sales returns negatively affected genuine farmers' earnings,since inflated coffee kilos under the names of "ghost' farmers affected actual kilos to the detriment of the genuine growers.
Speaking to this writer in his office,Mainya warned that if the issue of 'ghost' coffee farmers will be condoned at co-operative societies,them real farmers will be demoralized as final earnings from their coffee produce will be eaten by fake kilos attributed to 'ghost'growers .
"It is a serious scandal that boards of managements of our primary coffee co-operative societies must move with speed to counter as it threatens the coffee sub-sector in the region,"stated Mainya
Mainya challenged the boards to initiate annual coffee bushes census to ascertain the genuine farmers and have those whose bushes do not tally with the kilos indicated against their names and grower's number account for the excess kilos or blacklisted from being members of the affected co-operative society.
He decried cases where co-operative societies' recorders and weighing clerks colluded with some farmers to register 'ghost' growers numbers to swindle genuine farmers through inflated kilos of coffee deliveries which eat into the real kilos,hence compromising the final payment rates to the farmers.