Coffee farmers. [Photo/Daily Nation]
Two politicians from Embu county have urged the local coffee farmers to take up arms in a bid to protect their produce from thieves.
The radical call comes in after the farmers lost produce worth Sh2 million to thieves.
The two leaders, Embu Senator Njeru Ndwiga and Runyenjes MP Eric Muchangi claimed that the theft is perpetrated by private coffee millers and buyers.
Ndwiga and Muchangi said police may not be able to respond calls every time, so farmers must make their own arrangements to guard their coffee, arrest thieves and hand them over to police.
“We have been forsaken and abandoned as far as coffee protection is concerned. We should not be coming to Emco to cry. No! no! no! Where are we when coffee is being stolen? It’s our responsibility to protect it and not the commissioner or anybody else’s,” Ndwiga said.
“The security of our coffee begins with us. We have to take the initiative of protecting it before seeking help from authorities. We have to integrate technology and install CCTVs in our factories," added Muchangi.The calls from the leaders have motivated the farmers who now threaten to lynch the thieves as a way of teaching them a lesson.