All out onslaught against praedial thieves coming – Shaw
Published:Wednesday | December 22, 2021 | 12:11 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
Minister with responsibility for Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw has signalled his intention to press the Government to do more to take the fight to thieves who prey on farmers.
At Thursday’s keynote address to the official commissioning ceremony for the Little Park Pump Station in St Elizabeth, Shaw deviated from his prepared speech to offer condolences to the family and friends of 85-year-old Henry ‘Mas Hen’ Jones and 42-year-old Bryan ‘Fowlie’ Chambers, both farmers whose mutilated bodies were found in bushes in Grange Hill, Westmoreland, last week.
“Let us continue to be vigilant and speak up where we have information, so that we can win this fight to reduce these incidents,” the minister urged his audience.
Speaking with The Gleaner afterwards, Shaw disclosed that any substantive approach addressing the ongoing scourge of praedial larceny would have to include stronger collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Ministry of National Security.
“I intend to have a sit-down with the deputy prime minister and minister of national security (Dr Horace Chang) to have a deep, detailed discussion on the way forward, because it cannot continue like this. We have to look very meticulously at it; we cannot allow this to continue.”
WISH LIST
Stronger legislation as well as the allocation of more resources to the police are among the items on Shaw’s wish list. He also disclosed that Cabinet will shortly announce a new board for the Rural Agricultural Development Authority.
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary Dermon Spence also used the occasion to address the issue of praedial larceny.
“We have to take it on in a frontal way. It needs resources for the police and greater support from the community. We have to band together to ensure that this matter is addressed,” he said.
A comprehensive study, titled ‘Praedial Larceny in the Caribbean’, conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the results of which were released in 2013, noted that praedial larceny is no longer viewed as a petty crime but one of the most pervasive and entrenched crimes affecting business and livelihoods – the only crime at a regional level that consistently trends upwards.
“Praedial larceny has moved from the theft of small amounts to large amounts of produce involving, in some instances, truckloads of bananas, an entire field of pineapples or the harvest of a freshwater fish pond with a determination among the thieves that poses serious dangers to farm families and farmworkers. Some aquaculture farmers have abandoned their entire enterprise due to heavy losses and the high cost paid for security,” Spence said.