Break up your fallow ground, Roger

Chris Serju, GUEST COLUMNIST

I read and reread carefully Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke's speech at the launch of National Farmers' Month on Wednesday, April 2, which was delivered by Lenworth Fulton, chief executive officer of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), convinced that the latter had inadvertently left out the concrete strategies for addressing the scourge of praedial larceny.

My self-deception was triggered by the promising note on which the minister's speech started: "Since time immemorial, it is on the agricultural industry that we have built our nation, and as we look to the future, it is on that industry we will also rely for growth and sustainable development."

Relaxing, I waited to hear how the efforts of the hard-working farmers would be rewarded, with the outline of a plan to ensure they would retain most of what they had produced, through long-term planning and fiscal gymnastics - to dispose of at a time and price convenient to them. This being the launch of Farmers' Month, I anticipated writing a lead story on how Government was finally going to tackle this growing monster. However, with his next words, Minister Clarke put things into perspective, at least for me, sadly.

"This afternoon, I wish to use this opportunity to simply say thanks; to say thanks to the hard-working men, women and young people who have dedicated their lives to feeding this nation."

SOLID PILLAR

At a time when agriculture is being touted as potentially one of the most solid pillars for economic growth and development, the agriculture minister simply wants to say thanks. Nowhere in his speech is there even a suggestion for taming the monster of farm theft.

It is not only unfair, but unconscionable for the man who prides himself on being the "longest-serving minister of agriculture from 1998 to 2007" to insist that farmers continue to put their lives and property on the line, without the State being able to offer any protection. This from a man who admitted at a public forum that he now only raises goats in his refrigerator, explaining that repeated losses to thieves had forced him to give up on goat rearing in any substantive way.

I urge the farmers to use the many platforms provided to press leaders in the agriculture sector to share their plans to deal effectively with the growing plague of farm theft. They must demand that the minister, heads of commodity boards, and other agency leaders stop pussyfooting around with their lives and livelihoods and take decisive action to cauterise what they claim to be a mere $5-billion-per-year financial loss.

It is a problem which has persisted for too long, as evidenced by The Gleaner's lead story of Monday, May 7, 1990. 'Kill de 'tief yuself' screamed the banner headline of the article penned by Sylvia Lee, which documented tales of woe recounted by aged coconut farmers whose frustration at the failure of the authorities to stem the theft of their farm produce spilled over during their annual general meeting at the Coke Methodist Church in downtown Kingston the preceding Saturday.

The men who had travelled from all across Jamaica seemed to be reading from a common script as they told of the heavy losses to thieves and the unwillingness, or inability, of the police to offer any real help. I found particularly moving the paragraph which is reproduced below in its entirety:

"Isaiah Crossley, a 93-year-old grower of Harwood in St Catherine, crouching over his walking stick, called for the imposition of strict laws to give farmers permission to "shoot the thieves on sight" because, he said, "They don't plant, but only reap what others plant." He said he had more than 200 bearing trees, yet he had not been able to reap a single dried or a 'jelly' coconut.

From Portland, St Thomas, St Ann, their lament continued, with Thomas Neufville of Long Bay, Portland, disclosing that of every 1,000 coconuts his trees bore, he did not reap as many as 100. Further, even though he was a justice of the peace (JP), Mr Neufville said the relevant authorities were unwilling to grant him a firearm licence.

FRUSTRATED REASONING

This was not the ranting of arrogant youngsters fuelled by juvenile exuberance, but rather the frustrated reasoning of well-thinking, hard-working senior citizens who had reached the end of their tether. Sadly, 24 years on, the only thing that has changed is that farmers have been getting poorer at a faster rate, as thieves have evolved into more sophisticated, organised and dangerous gangs.

Dr Vincent Little, in an article titled 'Praedial larceny: its consequences for Caribbean agriculture', notes: "Praedial larceny has been recognised at the highest level of leadership in CARICOM as one of the constraints to sustainable agricultural development in the region.

"Conservative estimates reveal that the regional loss resulting from praedial larceny in crops, livestock, and fresh and marine fish is in the region of US$321 million annually. This does not take into account the future loss to agriculture productivity as high-quality genetic breeds of livestock and crop varieties are stolen from breeding stations and agriculture-research facilities to be sold as food. Also not taken into consideration are the potential public-health consequences and subsequent industry consequences when uncertified crops or livestock meats are integrated into the domestic food chain. The social implications are as serious in nature, as it is estimated that this crime is the most extensive in the CARICOM member states in terms of persons and families who are affected."

I challenge our farmers to use this month to press the agriculture minister for a substantive action plan to arrest farm theft, and in the process, bring to his attention what I suspect he already knows: that praedial larceny has emerged from petty thieving to satisfy household food insecurity to the pilferage of large amounts of agriculture produce.

The time for action is long overdue. If he can't muster the political will to do so, the region's self-proclaimed longest-serving agriculture minister must be prepared to take the advice of singer Beres Hammond to 'step aside' and allow someone else to take over.

Christopher Serju is an agriculture and rural affairs reporter. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com.