The Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) sounded the alarm over an upsurge in crop and livestock theft, widely known by the archaic legal term, praedial larceny, calling on retailers, hotels and shoppers to help stem an apparent organised wave of farm thefts now squeezing producers across the island.
While commending recent improvements in how the judicial system is addressing offenders, BAS Chief Executive Officer James Paul said at a press conference on Thursday that the public must not assume the issue has been resolved.
“I don’t want the public to go with the impression thinking that the problems of praedial larceny are gone. They’re still there,” he said.
He highlighted a persistent mindset among some members of the population who regard farmers’ produce as “fair game”.
“It seems to me that there is still a part of our population who seem to think that a farmer’s produce is fair game for him or her, and that they can go on farms and take up people’s produce and go and sell it,” Paul said.
The BAS boss also criticised individuals and businesses who encourage theft by purchasing stolen goods without verifying their source.
“It seems to me too that there are people out there who encourage these people in their behaviour, and that there are operators of certain retail establishments in this country, whether it be supermarkets or hotels or whoever, some encourage people to go and steal by buying the products that they steal…before asking the appropriate questions to ensure that they get in possession of the produce by legal means.”
Paul stressed that buyers who fail to perform due diligence are complicit in the theft: “Praedial larceny continues to be a very big problem, and we need to recognise that if you cannot provide the information to the police, to the law courts on these perpetrators, you yourself are complicit in it.”
The BAS called for stricter enforcement and public cooperation: “We want to see a situation where, whether it be a retailer, a hotel, a restaurant, or whoever: stop buying produce from people who cannot show proof that they have come in possession of this product by legal means.”
He also appealed directly to those selling produce on highways, urging them to desist from unlawful activity.
“I want to appeal to those persons who are on the highways who may, and I use the word may, be selling produce that they have acquired other than by legal means to stop.”
Paul said he had recently noticed a shift in the way thieves were being treated in the law courts, adding that punishment was no longer a slap on the wrist.
“I want to commend those members of the Judiciary who are taking a serious look at it and are punishing those perpetrators,” he said. “I agree with the serious sentences being handed out because we must send a strong message. They cannot feel that they can go on anybody’s property and take up produce, talking about ‘it is Jah’s fruit’. Jah tell you you should grow the fruit, not go and steal. It is by the sweat of your brow that you should eat.
But we have a thing in this country where we talk about the poor black man and all kinds of nonsense but the poor black man can rise above that.”
(SZB)
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