UNTIL AGRICULTURE AND agro-processing are given the respect they deserve, crop theft will always be a problem.
This is the view of the representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Barbados, Ena Harvey.
“This is my view on it. It is basic thieving and until we develop a respect for agriculture and a respect for our farmers as the providers of our food and our health then we will continue to take advantage of them,” she said.
?She noted that in countries like Nicaragua and El Salvador, in which there was inland tourism, tourism police had been established, who were suitably attired.
She asked why the same could not be done for agriculture.
“If agriculture is important to our land preservation, to our landscapes; if our farmers are seen as important as the tourists, then we protect our farmers and we will protect our food and we will not keep on adopting this dishonest practice of reaping another person’s labour,” Harvey said.
She said every act of theft had the potential to drive a farmer out of the industry.
“When a farmer puts in sweat and gets up early to feed animals, to cut grass, to tend a crop, to irrigate a crop and somebody comes and reaps that crop or steals the animal, it’s heart-breaking,” she cried.
“And when you do that to a farmer or a producer, that’s one more farmer who says I’m not going back in agriculture.”
