Agriculture minister: Grow your crops, don’t steal it

AGRICULTURE Minister Kazim Hosein has urged thieves to stop stealing from farmers, but instead grow their own crops.

During the budget debate in the Senate on Thursday, Hosein said more money was given to assist the Praedial Larceny Squad, to reduce pilferage from hard-working farmers. He said the police service and municipal police would assist the Praedial Larceny Squad, via a whole-of-government approach with the local government and national security ministries, in a combined effort."We intend to recruit more praedial larceny officers. We intend to assist the farmers out there."I want to make a special appeal. What doesn't belong to you, don't interfere with people's ... what they plant and their animals."

"Try and plant your own and don't interfere with what doesn't belong to you."He asked thieves to sympathise with how long it has taken farmers to raise a cow or to grow melongene and caraille."And you go in the people's field and just steal it? Have a conscience! These people are putting food on our tables."

He suggested using drones against praedial larceny. Hosein said farmers can access 50 per cent security incentives for CCTV cameras and fencing to help combat praedial larceny. He said the ministry has 92 incentives, but the public largely do not know how to access them. He promised to look into any problems faced by applicants. Hosein mentioned a 50 per cent reduction for machinery and equipment acquisition or for livestock purchase, plus a 100 per cent discount on soil conservation measures.

"We have tree crops incentives, fisheries incentives, vehicles incentives – you buy tractors, you buy pickups "We have post-harvesting operations and management. We have new farmers and youth incentives."He said $14 million in youth track grants were given to farmers all across the country from Rio Claro to Diego Martin.

Hosein said some 80,000 people had accessed some 122 courses offered online and in-person about crop production, and advised that new courses were posted on the ministry's website each month, for access by all. "A total of 22 outreach sessions were also facilitated." He promised an education drive to notify the general public of all incentives and training available to them to do agriculture or fishing, saying many people were unaware.

Hosein said $112 million worth of incentives were distributed in the past five years under the agricultural incentive programme. He said a pizza makers import container-loads of pineapples monthly but his ministry wanted to work with them to ensure these are sourced locally. He said the Ministry of Planning and Development has given his ministry a grant to go around the country to try to eradicate the giant African snail, a pest.