Final Anti-Praedial Larceny Consultation on Antigua

The Ministry of Agriculture held its fourth and final Anti-Praedial Larceny Consultation for Antigua last Tuesday 7th March at the Pares Secondary School.  This important meeting was for all the Food Producers in the North East and South East districts but it was poorly attended and by far was the smallest.  Only eight farmers attended this consultation while the others averaged at least twenty-five in attendance.  Also in attendance were Paul Lucas (CARDI representative) and June Jackson (CEO-Gilbert Agricultural Rural Development Centre).

Those who attended felt that their districts were affected the most by this crime and they all shared similar and familiar recounts of their experiences.  Additionally, they all expressed that insufficient support and assistance were given by the police.  It was unfortunate that there were no police present at this consultation but Ika Fergus (acting Senior Extension Officer) agreed and assured the food processors that more need to be done by all the stakeholders/ partners to mitigate repeated occurrences of this plight.

It is essential that vendors, buyers and consumers know the source of their produce and only purchase from legitimate food producers because they too can assist in deterring these crimes from happening.