“THEY USED TO STEAL OUR CROPS BUT NOW THEY ARE GETTING MORE BRAZEN AND ARE STEALING OUR MACHINERY, THE FIRST THING THE FARMERS DO NOW WHEN THEY REACH THEIR FARMS EVERY DAY IS TO CHECK WHETHER ANY THING HAS BEEN STOLEN,”

Thieves leave vegetable farmers fuming

IPOH: Farmers in Chemor used to go to their plots every morning to see how their crops were doing. Not anymore.

Now, they go there every morning to see what has been stolen.

The frequent thefts and robberies are giving farmers major headaches.

Kinta District Vegetable Farmers Association chairman Liew Yow Fatt said the thefts began about a year ago, but the problem had lately gotten serious.

“They used to steal our crops but now they are getting more brazen and are stealing our machinery,” he said on Friday.

Liew said 10 water pumps had been stolen from farms in Tanah Hitam, Khanthan Baru, Kuala Kuang, Changkat Kinding and Chemor over the past two months.

He hopes police will look into the problem.

“The first thing the farmers do now when they reach their farms every day is to check whether any thing has been stolen,” he added.

Farmer Chen Gek Siong, 55, said the thieves were committing crimes in broad daylight.

“The most recent incident was on Thursday when four of them came to my farm and tried to cart away my water pump,” he said.

However, he managed to stop them and even caught one of the thieves.