Green promises agri wardens coming to combat praedial larceny

WESTERN BUREAU:

Lenworth Fulton, immediate past president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), has embraced the Government’s plans to protect farmers from praedial larcenists by rolling out its agricultural warden programme in areas deemed ‘praedial larceny hotspots’.

Fulton described the Government’s action as a welcomed move, saying it was a proposal that came from the JAS as part of a strategic mechanism to prevent the more than $6 billion being lost by farmers at the hands of thieves annually.

“We proposed the establishment of agricultural wardens to operate with the powers of a district constable in hotspot areas, where farmers are losing their investments to organised criminals more frequently,” said Fulton.

“We are now hoping that it will be a reality soon, but we need them to be able to gather information from the heart of the higglers’ and the farmers’ systems, so that you can get to the root of the problem of praedial larceny,” he added, in responding to questions from The Gleaner in relation to a statement from Agriculture Minister Floyd Green on plans to deploy agriculture wardens before the end of the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

According to Fulton, it is increasingly difficult for farmers to raise their livestock across the island, particularly cows and goats. He said thieves appear to be operating in an organised manner to steal the animals, which are then sold into the various market schemes.

“You can’t keep goats down by [the] McCooks Pen area of St Catherine; they steal goats there frequently. And in terms of the cows, when you look at the western side of Claremont in St Ann, and the wider area going down to districts like Brittonville, Lumsden, and going up into Bamboo, these are areas where they [steal] cattle a lot and these are done in the dead of the night,” Fulton outlined.

“It is about J$6 billion per year in losses to the farmers, which does not mean that there are J$6 billion [in] losses to the market, because the products are still being marketed, but the farmers have been losing that amount of their investments,” added Fulton.

MORE BOOTS ON GROUND

Last February, Green disclosed during a press briefing that the maximum fine for breaches under the Agricultural Produce Act has moved from J$250,000 or three months in prison to J$3 million or three years in prison.

“What you will see this year is more boots on the ground in terms of the agricultural wardens programme. We are not just talking about it; we have already started to recruit our agricultural wardens and, based on the last number we looked at, we are already past the amount that we need for the first year,” said Green, during a recent tour of the Frome Sugar Factory in Westmoreland.

Green said plans are in place to have 300 agricultural wardens by 2028, which, hopefully, will arrest the problem of praedial larceny that is breaking the backs of the farmers.

“We plan to do 100 per year over the next three years, so that we will have 300 wardens. These are police officers who will be tasked with treating agricultural crime, and they will be deployed in hotspots for praedial larceny, so we plan to start training this quarter,” said Green. “We have already got the Cabinet’s approval for funding, so we should see the deployment of our first set of agricultural wardens this year.”

Green further noted that the rolling out of the agricultural wardens is part of a bigger plan that will see more programmes being implemented to protect farmers.

“This is part of a bigger plan for us to work with the Jamaica Constabulary Force to have an entirely new division that focuses on agricultural crime; because, more and more, we are seeing that agricultural crime and praedial larceny have moved from just being a one man taking a goat to an organised activity that we have to treat with through organisation,” he said.

That aside, Green said greater focus would be placed on disrupting the praedial larceny markets, expanding the farmers’ watch groups, and increasing technologies in the agriculture sector.

“The other thing that we will be focusing on this year is to cut out the praedial larceny markets, so we’ve said to the police we need more operations, especially in our livestock sector around our butchery. We need to cut out the market for stolen items, and we’re going to be focusing a lot on that this year,” said Green.

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