By Sue-Ann Wayow

WHEN the Stand Your Ground (SYG) legislation is put before Parliament, farmers are hoping that provision will be made to be able to protect farms and gardens and not just houses and buildings.

Such a call comes after one man was caught by farmers stealing produce on Monday morning in Aranguez.

A director of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago Safraz Ali recounted briefly to AZP News what occurred at 6 am at a farm in Aranguez, videos of which were posted online.

He said over the past few weeks, Aranguez farmers were plagued with praedial larceny with rumours of both locals and foreigners involved.

“Aranguez farmers have been on a heightened state of vigilance. This (Monday) morning, they caught one of the locals stealing a spray can and also he had some lettuce and sweet peppers in a bag that he just took from the Aranguez farmers in Sundarsingh Drive. They restrained him and they contacted me and I contacted the Barataria Police and the police responded immediately.”

He thanked Insp Ali and officers from Barataria Police Station for their prompt response.

Farmers were grateful for the mandate by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to make firearms more accessible to law-abiding citizens to allow them a form of protection and the proposed SYG.

Ali said, “We could probably make a pitch also for Stand Your Ground to apply to farmers and their garden to protect their livelihood if possible… Farmers are under threat. Their lives are literally at stake when they try to confront these bandits and criminals.”

Farmers would want to apply for their Firearm User’s Licence (FUL), he said, adding “if it is some of these bandits come into their garden , they are coming well-armed.”

He recalled an incident two years ago with a farmer guarding his celery crop which was fetching a high price at that time and was brutally stabbed and beaten by accosters.

Ali also said, “We would also like to see the praedial larceny squad beefed up with more vehicles. There isn’t any frequent patrols in the Aranguez area at nighttime so we want to see that happening in a more regular fashion.”

With a mixed community of residents and farmers, he is suggesting the police patrol the residential areas and the praedial larceny squad- the farming areas with more frequency.

Ali also thanked Minister of Agriculture Ravi Ratiram,  Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture Saddam Hosein and Member of Parliament for Aranguez/St Joseph Devesh Maharaj for working collaboratively in assisting with  previous flooding devastation to farmers.

Out of that initial collaboration, a meeting is being further planned to further discuss issues affecting farmers.

“Definitely, this issue of praedial larceny would be one that we will be bringing up and to see how best we could treat with it in  moving forward,” Ali said.