Opposition Senator Lambert Brown says that for the amendments passed under the Agricultural Produce (Amendment) Act, 2023, which aims to curb praedial larceny, to be effective, enforcement of the law must become a priority.

The bill, which was passed by the Senate on Friday, increased the charges for praedial larceny from J$250,000, or three months in prison, to J$3 million, or three years in prison.

During his remarks, Brown welcomed the long-awaited amendments to the legislation, which have not been updated since 2004. However, he urged caution with the projected success of the amendments.

“We support the bill, but we want to caution that the critical success factor is enforcement. We are lacking in vehicles. We are lacking in manpower. We are lacking in intelligence, and if we fix those, we would do service to the farmers for which they will be grateful and continue to produce,” he said.

“Until we build a [security] force that is sufficient to scare and frighten the criminals, to change the odds where the criminals feel they can succeed against the poor farmers until we do that we will come back and talk 20 years from now about the praedial larcenists and the fact that we have not won the battle against them,” he added.

Brown stressed that longer sentences for the offence would not deter individuals from committing praedial larceny, noting that there are life sentences for murder, yet criminals still commit the offence.

Instead, he said the real solution to the issue is enforcement of the law, and convicting those responsible.

Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, who piloted the bill in the Senate, replied that the amendments are an act of enforcement. She stressed that the adjustments would strengthen the regulation and trade of agricultural produce to deter and punish those who deprive farmers of the fruits of their labour.

Johnson Smith shared that farmers lose up to J$5 billion a year due to praedial larceny.

The amendments to the Agriculture Produce Act were passed by the House of Representatives last month.