Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Pearnel Charles Jr has a message for farm thieves: Regardless of who you are, you will be caught, prosecuted, and face the full force of the law once found guilty.

Charles gave the assurance at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, telling the newspaper’s journalists that praedial larceny — the perennial bane of the agriculture sector — is a well-organised criminal network that is not limited to petty thieves but involves gangsters, people operating across borders, and individuals in corporate Jamaica.

The Government, he said, has these individuals on its radar, and no one involved will be exempt from the sanctions proposed under amendments to the Praedial Larceny (Prevention) Act which seek to impose longer prison terms and fines of up to $5 million.

“For the first time in a long time our police have been swift in [being] able to actually hold persons in the act,” he said. “The reality is that we are seeing the results… and that’s why we also recently reinforced the country with some of the information around praedial larceny and how we are preventing it and what we are expecting of the farmers.”

Addressing the perception that wealthy or well-connected people involved in praedial larceny will always get off by calling in favours, the agriculture minister was adamant that that will not work with him.

“I am a former prosecutor… I’m not somebody who’s just chatting. I’m a former criminal prosecutor, Crown counsel for this country; served at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and [was] the officer and senior clerk of court for St Catherine. Big man, small man, little man have come before me; ask them what has been the result. The insinuation… is that if a big man is caught he can pick up the phone and call me and say ‘Hey, young Pearnel, it’s me yuh nuh’. Let me tell you, that is not the reality… that is not going to happen,” he insisted.

In his presentation to the sectoral debate in Parliament in May, Charles had announced that the ministry had begun the process towards amending the Proceeds of Crime Act which will assist in recovery of the proceeds of praedial larceny from perpetrators. He had also said that starting September 1, 2022, there would be full enforcement of the Animals (Diseases and Importation) (Marking of Bovine Animals) Regulations that require all cattle to be identified with ear tags and corresponding passports, and will act as a deterrent for praedial thieves.

Charles had also previously announced that the Government was moving to amend the Agricultural Produce Act to ensure effective trade and movement of goods.

On Monday, the minister argued that praedial larceny — which represents a loss to farmers of approximately $5 billion annually — is not just a national security or agriculture issue, but a public health issue as well, as people may steal produce that were recently chemically treated which can cause harm to those who consume them.

“When you go tief off a whole acre of cabbage, carry it somewhere, sell it to somebody — whether they know or they don’t know that it is stolen — and I go and purchase it and it has just been sprayed the day before, I’m dead or I’m sick, and I’m wondering why I’m sick. And if it’s something that is consistently done in a particular area you would wonder why somebody get cancer, why somebody sick,” he said.

“Everybody, not just farmers, needs to get involved in the prevention of praedial larceny,” he said.

“This is Jamaica. Everybody know what is happening, but don’t want to say it because they don’t feel that any response will be effective,” he said. However, he pointed to what he said were positive strides made to address the problem.

“You may not have heard all of what we are saying and doing, but you’ve seen a difference in how we are able catch, return and deal with issues and you’re going to continue to see more and more,” he said, noting that he is pleased that farmers are becoming more confident in the approach that the Government is taking and have been coming forward with information.

He said the agriculture ministry is continuing to put several strategies in place to curb praedial larceny, including creating greater awareness and strengthening the enforcement initiatives of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in praedial larceny investigation, prevention and risk reduction.

“We are not loud about it because we do not want to end up with people telling us that it’s just announcements. So we have been doing a lot of quiet work with the JCF. In the last two months we have been working with the JCF to raise awareness of all the police across all areas. We have had seminars, workshops, we are working with the judiciary. We have been doing full assessments of our own equipment, we have reinforced the operations around National Animal Identification and Traceability System which now requires ear-tagging of cattle and them having the passports that are required,” he said.