Predial larceny is one of the biggest problems facing estate owners, and they want Government to do something about it.
Yesterday, one supervisor told the DAILY NATION they had gone as far as hiring security guards to secure some of their crops, which were been continuously taken by thieves.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said in two months, the estate had lost nearly $35 000 in yams and sweet potatoes, which showed that there was demand and supply.
“This predial larceny is a business, and Government has to do something about it! This is not just a hungry person stealing to get a few items for their family. This is demand and supply, it’s a business venture for them,” he noted.
“We had no problems with our last set of carrots, because we actually had to bring in security to guard them at night, but before that the yams and sweet potatoes were a nightmare. They were stealing like 30 rods a night,” he stated.
He said although the thieves also stole huge sets of sugar cane, sometimes from the sweetest areas, the rotation crops were those being hardest hit most of the time.
“If we are spending money to plant crops, and the thieves are stealing 30 per cent of the crops, then it is not very beneficial to us, and eventually it won’t be beneficial to Government either, because the day these estates get together and decide to stop growing rotation crops, then Government’s import bill will automatically skyrocket. They haveto do something to protect us,” he said.
At Groves Plantation, St Philip, manager Ryan Norris said he too, has been experiencing some problems with the thieves.
“With the eddoes, I think that person is actually stealing for home, because it’s only a few they take, but I believe they are selling the yams. They steal the yams by the rods. I have had up to 15 rods of yams stolen already,” he noted.
Managing director of Barbados Farms, Martin Brathwaite, said they too wanted to see Government do something about the predial larceny their plantations were facing.
“The amount that is stolen at times shows that they are available markets for those items and we find that the stealing is greater especially when there is a shortage of the commodity,” he said.
Chairman of the Barbados Sugar Industries Limited, Dr Atlee Brathwaite, who is also the director of the Barbados Agricultural Management Company Ltd, confirmed that predial larceny was indeed rampant at the estates.
Brathwaite pointed out that the rotation crops contributed significantly to food security, and it would be very expensive for Government to import, if farmers did decide to stop planting.
“People have been losing large acres of crops and that is frustrating a lot of the farmers. When you spend so much money in producing a crop and wake up to find it gone it is a great turn-off.”
