Police need to protect our farmers

THE EDITOR: Many years ago, while driving by an orchard of orange trees in Florida, which went on for miles, I enquired into the prevalence of praedial larceny in the area.

The answer from my Trini friend, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, was that the swift and severe penalties applied to those stupid and evil enough to try to steal agricultural crops or livestock ensures that there is little or no praedial larceny in Florida.

Now, contrast that with TT where hordes of thieves openly steal crops and livestock from farmers – with impunity. In this regard, we are constantly getting reports of both livestock and crop farmers having their animals and crops stolen, with little or no redress.

This state of affairs simply cannot continue and our police must find a way to deploy the necessary resources to protect our farmers. So much of our future success depends on our ability to produce an ever increasing quantity of the food we consume.

GREGORY WIGHT

Maraval