The announcement Monday by Prime Minister Mr Andrew Holness that there is to be a special task force to fight praedial larceny can be taken as a suggestion that the country is losing the battle against farm theft.

We say the country because we do not ever want to fall into the ruinous temptation of thinking that praedial larceny is a problem for the Government alone to solve. Indeed, if that were so, it would never be solved — which is not to say that the Government is to be let off the hook.

Every sensible Jamaican knows that no Government has been able to bring farm thievery under manageable control, despite expending many efforts and much resources over the years.

Farmers who are feeling it — to the tune of $5 billion a year — at the hands of these human hyenas, know instinctively that the prime minister is not wrong when he declared in his address at the 69th Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show in Clarendon:

“We must conquer praedial larceny. At its core, it is reprehensible that someone should reap where they did not sow… benefit from your labour when they did not toil. We must respect the effort of our farmers.”

However, what we don’t like about the announcement of another special police task force is the sense that the Administration is bereft of ideas and is falling back on an old practice of throwing yet another agency at the problem, hoping that it will do the trick this time.

We recently had occasion in this space to urge Agriculture Minister Floyd Green to crank up the Praedial Larceny Prevention Unit which works closely with the Community, Safety and Security Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force to go more aggressively after farm thieves.

Mr Holness has not yet put any meat on the bone of his announcement, but we would like to hear as soon as possible what is the difference between this new task force and the one already in place for some time now.

We repeat our suggestion that the Administration focuses on the National Animal Identification and Traceability System which incorporates information on the identity, ownership, geographical location, and movement activity of stolen animals.

Minister Green recently complained about the low fines that praedial larcenists scoff at. He and the prime minister are well placed to do something about that, instead of fretting over judges not imposing higher fines, which it is the duty of the legislature to set.

Finally, it is well known that funds are short, but if agriculture is the priority — which we are told endlessly it is — then money must be found to push public education on praedial larceny prevention, knowing that the thieves are well-supported by members of the public who buy their ill-gotten gains either for resale or consumption.

There will never be enough police coverage to stop such a lucrative activity. The public has to be mobilised against it. This one is a no-brainer.

On another note, we are pleased with the prime minister’s further announcement that $300 million is in the budget for the St Elizabeth-based Pedro Plains irrigation scheme which will lift water from the Black River to the Pedro Plains in that southern parish.

Let’s get on with it.