MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE INDAR WEIR ( centre), flanked by Ian Branch (third right, partly hidden), who won the best Blackbelly ram and ewe on show, BAS chief James Paul (second left), Permanent Secretary Seibert Frederick (left) with members of Branch’s farming support group. (Pictures by Lennox Devonish.)
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE Indar Weir (right) admiring the best beef heifer, which belongs to Andrew Callender ( centre), while the CEO of the BAS, James Paul, pats the animal.
THE JUSTICE SYSTEM is not doing enough to curb praedial larceny in Barbados, laments chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society, James Paul.
“We need to take a hard line on the issue of praedial larceny,” he said during a tour of the final day Agrofest with the Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir and other ministry officials in Queen’s Park yesterday.
“I think [there is a] need to take a different approach to the sentencing. We cannot have a situation where we have repeat offenders and . . . giving them a slap on their wrists and turning them back out the court.”
An upset Paul added: “Those thieves in turn walk around and make sport at the farmers the next day, telling them they cannot do them anything. That is unfortunate and I think it is the biggest disincentive to the farming community . . . .”
Paul added that this was contributing to more farmers dropping out of crop production.
Weir said he would not be “dodging around” the issue, as plans to revamp the praedial larceny legislation was in the works, which would have more stringent penalties.
Reviewing bill
“It (the bill) is currently in the hand of the private farmers,” he said. “They are reviewing it and pointing out the areas they want me to improve on. From there we would have a stakeholder meeting and then it would go to Parliament.”
Meanwhile, Weir added that his ministry was rolling out a new initiative in the next few months that would further develop the Blackbelly sheep industry. He said focus would be placed on increasing the population and developing a value chain around the skin and good genetics.
He said that within the next five years, there should be well over 38 000 Blackbelly sheep in the island.
Deeming Agrofest a success, the minister said he was impressed by the number of young people who participated in the livestock show and the quality of the animals.
During the tour, Weir met some of the top performers in the livestock show, tasted local hand-made products and got tips on hydroponic systems at the Carmeta Booth. (SB)
