Nyamonya Farmers Co-operative Society members in Giasaiga sub-location of Sameta sub-county have declared war against ghost coffee farmers.
The members accused ghost farmers of colluding with coffee beans weighing clerks to secretly register as growers only to steal from genuine farmers through inflation of kilos.
Joshua Masese, one of the farmers from Motonto FCS, an affiliate of Nyamonya raised a red flag over non-farmers who only exist on record but are not coffee farmers on the ground.
Speaking during the Society's Special General Meeting at their headquarters in Nyakegogi shopping centre, Masese challenged the board of management to clean the growers register off ghost farmers whom he claimed colluded with recorders to have coffee kilos entered against their names yet they do not have coffee trees in their farms.
He called on the management to immediately conduct a coffee census to ascertain genuine coffee growers and the number of coffee trees each has in order to fight the syndicate which is eating into their payment.
“We cannot have ghost farmers eating from genuine farmers' sweat through inflated kilos yet they do not exist on the ground. Let the management take measures to fight this cartel stealing from genuine farmers,” stated Masese
Masese further called on the management to ensure there is a supervisory committee in place to monitor and ensure transparency in the running of the Society's affairs on behalf of the members.