Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir has told farmers that they need to secure their farms to avoid becoming victims of praedial larceny, even though legislation is in place to punish crop and animal thieves.
Weir told Barbados TODAY that while the Protection of Agricultural Products Act 2022 is in effect, it is not a security measure but is meant to ensure members of the farming community get justice if their products or animals are stolen.
He was speaking in light of the theft of 22 Blackbelly sheep from a farm at River Plantation in St Philip last week.
“Just because there is a praedial larceny bill or because there are mechanisms through which people can be punished, it doesn’t mean that a farmer doesn’t have a responsibility to protect his or her property. The first order of business is to protect your property,” Weir asserted.
“Farmers must take responsibility for protecting their investment, and while livestock farmers may have their farms enclosed, they still need to take a step further and either have somebody on-site or have surveillance cameras installed. The law itself is not going to provide that kind of protection. The law is there to bring people to justice.”
The Protection of Agricultural Products Act 2022, which was proclaimed in early March this year, provides for fines of up to $100 000, imprisonment for five years, or both. Before the enactment of the legislation, the maximum fine was $5 000.
Operation Bird’s Eye, a collaboration that began in 2021 between the Barbados Police Service and the Barbados Defence Force to patrol targeted areas and carry out investigations, has been reactivated in accordance with the Act.
Farmers can also use drone technology to secure their investment and the Act makes provision for them to use a chipping system to trace their livestock.
During the interview with Barbados TODAY, Weir gave an update on the Three Houses Spring (Management and Control) Act 2023, disclosing that the enforcement aspect of the legislation has not yet taken effect.
The legislation, passed in May, repeals the 1913 law that governed the Three Houses Spring and prevents the permanent obstruction of the natural flow of the spring, which acts as a water source for crops at River Plantation downstream.
The minister said the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) management committee has to function “so that the officers responsible for the flow of the spring would be in place”.
“The committee should comprise a member of the Barbados Defence Force, a member of the Barbados Police Service, a representative from the Barbados Water Authority, one from the BADMC and a representative from the Ministry of Environment. That committee would then be responsible for laying out the management framework for the flow of the spring and BADMC would be responsible for managing the access to water from the spring to all farms and people who are riparian owners, who would have access to daming the water for a short period of time,” he explained.
Asked how soon the arrangement would take effect, Weir said: “It is being worked on all now . . . so it is just a case of pulling everything together. I believe the chief executive officer of the BADMC would have brought this to the board at the BADMC and he is reaching out to members of the committee so that he can hold a meeting and put up the management structure, but it is an ongoing process that has already begun.”
Under the new Act, the BADMC will manage and control the spring and stream to ensure that all persons entitled to receive and use the water from it are treated fairly and equitably.
It is against the law to divert, dam, or block the spring and anyone who fails to comply with the law is subject to a fine of $25 000, imprisonment for two years, or both.
There have been complaints that farmers and people upstream, whose private property the water flows onto, have been damming and/or diverting the resource. Over the years, drought conditions have also impacted the spring, resulting in low water levels.
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