John Myers Jr., Agriculture Coordinator

Rainford (left), Crum Ewing (centre) and Duffus (right). - Andrew Smith/ Photography Editor

With losses reaching $80 million annually as a result of praedial larceny, stakeholders in the livestock industry are proposing that Government make it mandatory for persons wanting to slaughter animals to first obtain a permit from the police and public health officials as a means to stemming the problem.

It was also suggested that a central clearing house be re-established and a modern abattoir constructed in every major town across the island to streamline the process of slaughtering animals.

Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum on the livestock sector at The Gleaner Company's office in central Kingston on Wednesday, Balteano Duffus, general secretary of the Beef and Dairy Producers Association of Jamaica, said a proposal has been submitted to the Minister of Agriculture and Lands to "look at certain things like working (more closely) with the police and the justice system and also before you can kill a head of cattle you have got to get some certificate written and signed by the public health (officer) and the police."

Measures were proposed

Mr. Duffus explained that the measures were proposed by farmers, whom he said, felt that the Government was not doing enough to address the problem or was not taking the problem seriously.

Robin Crum Ewing, operator of the Green Castle Estate in Annotto Bay, St. Mary, lamented that the problem of cattle theft was impacting negatively on the operations of cattle farmers. He pointed out that 11 cattle have so far been stolen from his farm since the start of the year. Mr. Crum Ewing added that one of his fellow farmers lost 87 heads of cattle last year. He noted that losses for the sector now ranged between $60 million and $80 million annually.

"When you have three animals and all three are slaughtered in one night, how the farmer doesn't go out to the nearest breadfruit tree and hang himself, I don't know," Crum Ewing said, emphasizing the gravity and the resulting implications of the problem. He maintained that cattle theft was being done by professional butchers.

Dr. Henry Rainford, managing director of the Jamaica Livestock Association, pointed out that two truck loads of cattle were stolen from another farmer in St. Elizabeth last Thursday. "This cattle stealing thing is very very bad," he stressed.

He recommended that "you need to go back to look at what they had with the livestock clearing house when those guys had to get a permit to go out and buy beef, pigs or whatever from a farmer,"

Stiffer penalties needed

But Mr. Crum Ewing contended that the penalties for praedial larceny were not stringent enough to act as a deterrent. "Too many times when praedial larceny issues go before the court it is treated as a minor problem," he added.

"I think if we had some thieves to supervise, to do our pasture cleaning for us they would stop because that would be a real penalty for them (as) they would have to fight grass lice and ticks," Mr. Crum Ewing said.