MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Farmers suffering the pain of praedial larceny have been jolted by further news that their own colleagues have been among the main culprits.

The problem has been so bad in Manchester that the police in that parish have warned farmers who are in the habit of stealing their colleagues’ produce or livestock that the police would be targeting them on a “24-hour shift” basis to catch the perpetrators.

“The operation (stealing) takes place at nights and on weekends. It is difficult to catch these thieves because in most cases it is farmers, butchers stealing from each other. Once the animals are stolen, usually they are slaughtered in a short time,” said Special Corporal Cliffmore Simpson of the Mandeville Police Station.

Simpson, speaking to the Jamaica Observer after a recent sensitisation workshop for butchers here, said there had been a rise in the level of praedial larceny in the May Day and Old England areas in the parish where a number of butchers reside.

At the same time, Reginald Grant, representative from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, said losses to praedial larceny in the agriculture sector is estimated at $5 billion of the gross output and is now carried out by wellorganised syndicates that are sometimes armed with highpowered weapons.

He said that this activity serves as a “disincentive” to present and prospective farmers and has a negative impact on the development of agriculture.

Grant, in addressing the butchers at the workshop held at the Cecil Charlton Hall, said that community members should ensure that persons who were being registered as farmers by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) were “fit and proper” and they should assist the police in the fight against praedial larceny.

“When the investigation is being done for registration I would expect that RADA would get the opinion of the community to see whether the person is fit and proper to be registered. There should be an air of trust between the farmers and the police that you can say to them in confidence, ‘this is what is happening in our community and these are the people who are responsible for these atrocities’,” he said.

Grant, however, stirred the wrath of some butchers who questioned why it was necessary for them to be registered and be required to use receipts from the receipt books sold through the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) when they were not doing agriculture on a large scale or even on a consistent basis.

“Don’t look at the messenger, look at the message,” was Grant’s response. “It is written in black and white, noise won’t help you. I am here to clarify matters. The law said even for a one-off transaction you must have receipt. If all butchers demand receipts a lot of you would not be victims of your trade. What I find mystifying is that when it comes to some laws we sort of frown on them. A law says that a man must not steal your things, if he steals your things there is a consequence. If you want to spend your hard-earned cash and then end up in front of the judge to pay anything from $1 to $250,000 and see 12 months (sentence) hanging over your head that is your prerogative. You cannot obey the law when it suits you and disobey it when it suits you,” the ministry spokesman told the butchers.

The Ministry of Agriculture, through the JAS, has for years been struggling to have farmers issue receipts to purchasers of produce and livestock as a way of reducing praedial larceny. Receipts would be produced if persons with farm goods are stopped in police spot checks.

Grant told the impatient butchers that ignorance of the law was not a legitimate excuse and urged new and unregistered farmers across the island to take advantage of the “olive branch” that is being extended through RADA and the police and to register between today and April 18, between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm, at local police stations.

“We have $1 million in an escrow account as a reward for those who help to capture praedial thieves. We want all the stakeholders to buy into the programme so that it can work very well,” Grant told the workshop, sponsored by the Manchester Parish Council and the Manchester Public Health Department.