diff --git a/ckanext/harvest/commands/harvester.py b/ckanext/harvest/commands/harvester.py
index 6ea3c76..864d6c4 100644
--- a/ckanext/harvest/commands/harvester.py
+++ b/ckanext/harvest/commands/harvester.py
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ class Harvester(CkanCommand):
       harvester fetch_consumer
         - starts the consumer for the fetching queue
 
+      harvester perge_queues
+        - removes all jobs from fetch and gather queue
+
       harvester [-j] [--segments={segments}] import [{source-id}]
         - perform the import stage with the last fetched objects, optionally belonging to a certain source.
           Please note that no objects will be fetched from the remote server. It will only affect
@@ -118,6 +121,9 @@ class Harvester(CkanCommand):
             from ckanext.harvest.queue import get_fetch_consumer
             consumer = get_fetch_consumer()
             consumer.start_consuming()
+        elif cmd == 'purge_queues':
+            from ckanext.harvest.queue import purge_queues
+            purge_queues()
         elif cmd == 'initdb':
             self.initdb()
         elif cmd == 'import':
diff --git a/ckanext/harvest/queue.py b/ckanext/harvest/queue.py
index 2860510..7eeb6ca 100644
--- a/ckanext/harvest/queue.py
+++ b/ckanext/harvest/queue.py
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ def get_connection():
     
     return pika.BlockingConnection(parameters)
 
+def purge_queues():
+    connection = get_connection()
+    channel = connection.channel()
+    channel.queue_purge(queue='ckan.harvest.gather')
+    channel.queue_purge(queue='ckan.harvest.fetch')
 
 class Publisher(object):
     def __init__(self, connection, channel, exchange, routing_key):