Meru Senator Kathuri Murungi wants the government to allow other millers to process the tonnes of coffee beans lying in storage facilities across the country.
He said coffee lying in stores should be given to other millers who have the capacity to mill it and have shown they can be trusted.
The senator said P1, P2 and P3 grades of coffee have not yet been milled by the new Kenya Planters Co-operative Union.
Murungi, who spoke to farmers in Kaguru on Tuesday, said some coffee growers have stayed for two years without being paid.
"In Kaguru cooperative, farmers have stayed for two years without pay. How are they going to take their children back to school?" he posed.
During a national coffee conference in Meru last year, the senator said the milling of coffee was given only to KPCU after it was said the sector was infiltrated by cartels during milling process.
"Some farmers had already given the coffee to millers so it was hard to get back the coffee and licences of some millers was stopped," Murungi said.
Murungi said good marketers and millers should be given back their licences.
Some coffee farmers said they do not understand why the government was in a hurry to fight cartels by punishing farmers whose coffee is wasting away in storage facilities across the country.
Fridah Kananu urged the government to conduct speedy investigations and arrest those culpable of stealing their coffee. Last year, coffee worth Sh3 million was stolen.
The coffee theft has led to blame game between KPCU and some millers in Meru.
Late last year, New KPCU chairman Daniel Chemno termes the allegations "baseless and unfounded and only meant to tarnish their name".
He urged coffee factories and warehouses to ensure their premises are manned by armed police officers to prevent theft.
