Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green is set to bring to Parliament an amendment to the Agricultural Produce Act, which will prescribe stricter penalties and more effective regulations to tackle praedial larceny.
“We are very aware at the ministry that unless we can work with the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) to get praedial larceny under control, a lot of people will not go into goat rearing. We have to do our part as Government and that is why come next week, I’m going to Parliament to bring amendment to the Agricultural Produce Act,” he said.
The agriculture minister, who higlighted the negative impact of praedial larceny on farmers, agreed that there needs to be stronger deterrents to those who engage in the act.
“We have to ensure that the thieves have no market for their stolen items. So, we have to clamp down on transportation of agricultural produce that is being done without the necessary receipts and invoices, and if you can’t tell us where you get it from and show us, then the penalties have to be more severe,” Green said.
“Unfortunately, for a long time we’ve had penalties like J$250,000 if you are found guilty of crimes under the Agricultural Produce Act. That is not a deterrent to anybody and as such, we are going to bring in harsher penalties for those who run afoul of the law in relation to the transportation of agricultural produce,” he added.
Superintendent Oral Pascoe, who is attached to the Praedial Larceny Unit, underscored that over 1,000 cases of praedial larceny were reported in the last 10 years across all parishes.
Convinced that the actual number of cases is potentially greater, he urged farmers to make a report even if they believe that they will not receive their stolen property. He explained that with the information, the police are able to create a database for data mining.
Pascoe explained that the information can be used to identify hotspots to strategically place police and wardens and set up patrols.
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