Praedial larceny

DR. TREVOR Dewdney, 1st vice President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), has outlined the plan of action for the latest initiative against praedial larceny, perhaps the greatest threat to the farm sector.

In his letter to the Editor published on Saturday he makes an appeal for support from all law-abiding elements and we pledge our own.

We agree with Dr. Dewdney that persistency will be a vital ingredient in determining the effectiveness of the effort. And if the JAS can successfully ignite the fervour of its officers and members to this end it will take a giant step to eradicating what has become a big undercover industry.

We agree with the view that the shifting of the onus of proof of ownership of produce from the farmer to the alleged purchaser is an important reform. The old arrangement was almost impossible since farm produce do not come with identification marks.

However, it seems to us that even given the zeal with which we expect the JAS to tackle this latest assignment there are a number of factors which have to be bourne in mind. One of the first is the level of illiteracy among farmers. How many farmer-producers are incapable of reading and writing? Will such farmers be at a disadvantage in marketing their produce?

We think that the JAS needs to be alert to the possibility that unscrupulous individuals could "sell" receipts thus providing legitimate cover for stolen goods.

And what of the thieves themselves? How difficult will it be for them to trade in false receipt books? These are a few of the concerns we have about the opportunities for subverting the new system. But we agree with Dr. Dewdney that the effort needs wide support.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.

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