The government is to table a bill at the next sitting of parliament to address the issue of the loss of farm produce through theft, according to a release yesterday from the Department of Public Information (DPI).
Agricultural Health and Food Security Specialist of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Mark Pierre told DPI that addressing praedial larceny is of great importance since it affects the livelihood of all farmers and can have an especially crippling effect on small farmers.
In addition, Dr Pierre said, “it (praedial larceny) also has other implications in terms of disease control which ultimately affects trade in the long run for the country.”
While there exists legislation, there is a greater need for enforcement for there to be a positive effect in stemming the larceny of agricultural produce, whether crops or livestock.
The specialist pointed out that, “One of the main issues with legal matters is enforcement and I think we have all the laws in place and we can do a lot of things.
We can have a lot of control, but there is always the issue of enforcement and with enforcement. I think that’s one of the areas we have to tighten up.”
