FUKUOKA - A wave of pear thefts has prompted police and farmers to strengthen patrols as growers warn that stolen fruit is likely being resold online or from roadside vehicles.
The thefts have targeted pears nearing harvest, including the popular Kosui variety. In Fukuoka Prefecture, orchard owner Hiroki Sasaki said he had decided to abandon pear farming after 5,000 Kosui pears worth about 2 million yen were stolen.
"I am quitting. I have decided to stop growing pears," Sasaki, who operates Sankouen orchard, said. "It feels like I am growing them for thieves."
The losses have become serious enough to threaten the livelihoods and futures of farming families.
In Chikusei, Ibaraki Prefecture, police conducted a joint patrol with Nopatotai, a farmers' neighborhood watch group. Officers and farmers visited pear growers directly to warn them about the risk of theft, while drones were used to monitor orchards from the air.
Growers who have previously suffered thefts are also stepping up their own defenses.
At Seiyo Orchard in Hitachiota, Ibaraki Prefecture, owner Tsuyoshi Horiguchi has increased patrols and installed a range of security equipment to protect pears scheduled to be harvested in two weeks.
More than 500 pears were stolen from his orchard six years ago.
"We are determined to defend this area and make sure nothing is taken from here," Horiguchi said.
Questions remain over where the stolen pears are ultimately sold.
"Probably online," Horiguchi said. "They may sell them on the internet or from a light truck. They are definitely being resold somewhere."
Mercari, a major online flea market platform where large quantities of pears are listed for sale, has issued an unusual warning urging users to check whether fruit offered on the site may have been stolen and to report suspicious listings.
Horiguchi said unusually unripe or undersized pears could be a sign that the fruit had been taken before the proper harvest period.
"Pears that are far too green or much too small, the kind you would never see sold in a supermarket, are probably suspicious," he said.
Source: FNN
