The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is exploring GPS tracking technology to combat livestock theft in Barbados.
Permanent Secretary Terry Bascombe delivered a speech at the annual general meeting of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Center (LESC) on Saturday, stressing that theft posed a major threat to local efforts to increase agricultural production.
Bascombe revealed the department has lost 25 animals in a month, with thieves making off with ten sheep and eight bags of feed from Greenland Livestock Station.
“What tells us is that this thing is really planned and organized,” the secretary of state said, calling on local farmers to take measures to protect their farms.
“Be very vigilant. The thieves are out there and we’re getting closer to Christmas, where someone would rather eat more than just ham.”
He shared that the government has started microchipping animals but now needs to go a step further and introduce GPS tracking.
“We started a pilot project where we inserted a chip under the animal’s skin… That allowed us to identify that.” [lost] Sheep. “We plan to work with private farmers so we can transfer this technology to them as well,” said Bascombe.
“Where we want to go is using GPS. … We hope to get there, but it’s expensive. I understand, but we have to do what we have to do,” he added.
BAS chief executive James Paul spoke to Loop News to express his support for the tracking technology as livestock theft threatened agricultural development.
“It’s a blow because if you lose these animals it means you lose the genetics and these are prime animals that you need for breeding purposes and for genetic development,” Paul claimed.
“We have actually used microchip technology on imported cows, but we need to use the tracking technology that comes with it, so we need to take it to another level.”
While Paul acknowledged that progress has been made with a dedicated theft prevention unit within the Barbados Police Service, he insisted that the sector requires regulation.
“The sale of agricultural products in the country needs to be better monitored. We are only 166 square miles and there are only a few areas where we can sell agricultural products.”
“We need to increase and be more vigilant in monitoring the products sold and the people who actually sell the products,” emphasized the BAS CEO.
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