President of the Beef and Dairy Producers Association of Jamaica Limited (BDPAJ) Robin Crum Ewing says cattle farmers lost $60 million to praedial larceny in 2005. But that figure is expected to increase significantly when last year’s tally has been analysed.

According to Crum Ewing, cattle theft poses the greatest challenge to the revival or survival of the industry as farmers are now being forced to dig deep into their pockets to pay extra for security on their farms.

“Cattle theft is a major threat to the revitalisation of the local beef and dairy sub-sectors, because it is driving farmers out of cattle farming and acting as a disincentive to potential investors,” he said.

Crum Ewing told the Sunday Observer that individual farmers have reported security costs as high as $120,000 per month.

“A major farm lost 12 heads of cattle in 2006, compared to 85 in 2005, a reduction of 73 at a value of $2 million. However, the farmer incurred additional security cost in excess of $2 million,” he explained.

In addition, he said the loss of otherwise productive breeding stock affects future revenue streams.

Crum Ewing and his fellow cattle farmers are convinced that cattle theft is highly organised, as success, they argue, relies on collusion between persons proficient in butchery, transport providers and commercial operators with refrigerated capacity to bulk store carcasses.

As such, the Beef and Dairy Association wants cattle thieves to be slapped with stiffer penalties, including mandatory and extended incarceration. In addition, the association is also calling for the establishment of a Farm Theft Bureau within the Organised Crime Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

The farmers have also proposed the establishment of three regional courts to exclusively prosecute cases of general theft from farms so as to expedite the disposal of cases.

“Many farmers have lost some confidence in the slow pace of the courts and they scoff at the relatively ‘soft penalties’ being meted out under the Praedial Larceny Act,” Crum Ewing said.

He argued that the penalty a cow thief faces, if convicted, is well below what the thief stands to gain from the proceeds of a successful night’s heist.

The slow pace of the legal system in investigating, prosecuting and disposing of cases of cattle theft, according to the BDPAJ president, leaves perpetrators free to serially plague small farmers.

“Farmers have taken to exposing themselves to personal harm by forming vigilante groups to watch their cattle at nights,” he said.

And while the industry has been rocked by praedial larceny, the influx of imported beef is also cause for great concern among the association’s members.

Crum Ewing was quick to point out that the association was not against imported beef, however, he said both products should be allowed to compete on an equal playfield.

The association, he said, is opposed to any waiver of the existing duty regime.

“We are asking for a long-term commitment so the regime will remain in place, because it will take five years to regenerate the livestock industry from where it is now, and if policy changes half-way through those five or even 10 years, it will be difficult to get any investors to come in,” he said.

The BDPAJ president pointed out that with international beef price trending upwards, local beef will become more competitive, and as such, he said, it is critical that opportunities exist for the redevelopment of the sector.

“Jamaica must guard against the situation where consumers are unable to afford imports in the near future, such imports having been allowed to obliterate our local industry,’ he said.

Dr Paul Jennings, chief executive officer of the Dairy Development Board, agreed that while the industry was not opposed to importation, the sector felt that imports should not be allowed to the detriment of the local dairy industry.

He told the Sunday Observer that milk powder prices have continued to increase from US$1,100 per metric ton in 1995 to US$2,400 now, which will make it eventually more expensive than locally produced milk.

“It is a sharp, upward trend that we have seen in the last three years which we think may be even more intensified, given the fact that the Europeans have now eliminated export rebates,” he said.

The US, he explained, has not enunciated a policy of a balanced budget, so there is going to be a continuing devaluation of their dollar versus major trading currencies.

“So what we have seen from the Dairy Board is that in another three years the price of milk solids and milk powder will be higher than what consumers are being asked to pay for fresh milk, and then fresh milk won’t be available,” said Jennings.

Jennings noted that there has also been a 40 per cent increase in beef prices worldwide over the last two years. “There have been some transient opportunities for low-cost beef, as is the case currently with Costa Rica, but that is going to dry up in 12 months, so there will be no market that you can go to get cheap food,” he said.

It is these challenges which have caused the association to present to the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands a strategic action plan to be implemented over five years.

The plan, which calls for the Government to invest US$11.5 million over five years, is expected to be submitted shortly to Cabinet, according to a ministry official.

Explaining the development plan, Balteano Dufus, secretary of the BDPAJ, told the Sunday Observer that the fund would be used to establish an internationally certified abattoir; research and development; and trading and institutional strengthening of the industry.

Private investors, he said, are expected to pour in $21.5 million to assist with pasture development and resuscitation, commercial fodder production, establishment of a milk processing plant, plant rehabilitation and dairy farms.

“Currently, we are producing less than half of what our demand is for milk, so we need to establish certain farms in order to increase production, and therefore we have allocated US$5 million to be invested by the private sector into approximately eight or 10 farms,” Dufus said.

He explained that the funds will be doled out in the form of concessionary loans as financial institutions do not want to lend money because the margins tend to be very low and returns take a while to be generated.

But what are the expected results of this investment?

According to Dufus, based on projections of a study conducted in 2005, the national breeding herd should increase from 45,500 to 108,000 heads. Improved pastures, he said, will increase from 18,000 hectares to 29,650 hectares.

Milk production is expected to increase from 14.5 million litres to 50 million litres per annum, while beef production is expected to increase from 10.75 million kg to 25 million kg.

When the herds are increased, Dufus said cattle farmers can look beyond beef and milk production as there are 87 by-products to be had from cows.

One of the most valuable is leather.

“We spoke to some persons from Brazil and they say you could actually do away with the meat once you are growing the animal for good leather and make money just on the skin alone,” Dufus said. “We are yet to even tap the surface of the sort of returns that we can get from it.”