Agriculture Ministry Beefing Up Praedial Larceny Unit

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, is beefing up the praedial larceny unit in order to enhance its effectiveness in curtailing agricultural theft across the island.

Minister without Portfolio, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, said that the Ministry will be enlisting the services of 30 district constables, who “will be in and around the farming communities to monitor what is taking place”.

“One of the things we find is that the police are not able to get around to identify the thieves, but when you have somebody (district constable) in your area, he knows the goat thieves, the mango thieves and the chicken thieves. He will be able to identify that person and relate him back to the police,” he noted.

Minister Hutchinson was speaking at the official opening of the rehabilitated Dragoon to Flagstaff road in St. James on Wednesday (January 22). He also opened the Prosper to Tangle River roadway on the day.

The Minister noted that 10 vehicles will be procured, which will be specifically assigned to the praedial larceny unit to increase the mobility of personnel.

“We are hoping that it will really bring a dent to the number of thieves that are in and around the place raising havoc with the farmers’ produce,” he said.

The Dragoon to Flagstaff and Prosper to Tangle River roadways were rehabilitated at a cost of $8 million each under the National Farm Road Programme, providing improved access to markets for some 2,666 registered farmers.

Under the programme, being implemented by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), more than 250 roads have been rehabilitated, to date, at a cost of $1.8 billion.

Another 72 roads are expected to be completed by the end of March.