Full Traceability Coming on Stream to Combat Praedial Larceny

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr. Donovan Stanberry, has stated that new measures to combat praedial larceny will go beyond the use of receipt books to implementation of full traceability measures.
He said the Ministry is seeking to attack the problem from all angles and is focused on devising ways to strengthen traceability and further sensitise law enforcers regarding the problem.
The Permanent Secretary was speaking last week at the launch of Farmers’ Month, at the Jamaica Agricultural Society, in downtown Kingston.
With regard to the traceability element, Mr. Stanberry said the onus to prove the origin of agricultural produce will be placed on end-users under the new system.
“What the receipt book did was put the onus on the man who is carrying his produce in the van; we are going a little bit beyond that. By putting in traceability, we are also putting the onus on the final buyer. That supermarket, that hotel, that shop, that butcher, whoever the end-user is, the onus must also be placed on him to say ‘where did you get your produce from’?” he explained.
He said proper abattoirs, farmers’ markets and packing houses will help to control the problem, by ensuring that all produce flow through these channels.
However, Mr. Stanberry said that sensitisation of the police and judiciary was also important in ensuring that the issue of praedial larceny becomes a priority.
“There is no system that will catch every praedial thief, but if you can have a system that when you catch one, it is given the maximum publicity, then I think that it will act as some level of deterrent,” he predicted.
Mr. Stanberry informed that a campaign similar to the Crime Stop initiative is to be launched shortly by the Minister of Finance, in relation to praedial larceny.