Clarke... This is not a gimmick
Daraine Luton, Senior Gleaner Writer
KINGSTON, Jamaica:
Six years after mocking his parliamentary colleague J.C. Hutchinson for his proposal to implant microchips in animals as part of the fight against praedial larceny, portfolio minister Roger Clarke has announced a similar system to combat farm theft.
Clarke, contributing to the 2014-2015 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, said the Government will be rolling out an "exciting and game-changing" programme relating to the tagging of the entire cattle population.
The minister told parliament that under the programme, every head of cattle on the island will be tagged and issued a passport.
"This is not a gimmick," Clarke said, while noting that the passport will contain information about the animal and will be mandatory for the movement of the animal.
He also said that a DNA database for all tagged animals has been developed and the tags are being procured.
The minister said the tags are to arrive to facilitate the commencement of tagging after June.
It is not the first time Clarke is announcing the use of modern technology to fight praedial larceny.
"We are working now with one of the phone providers. Technology will have to be brought to bear in a very significant way, and I am not ruling out the chip. Anything that can prevent it, I am into it," he said last year.
The minister, in an update on the programme, said a mobile app has been developed which will enable the police to have instant and mobile access to RADA's farmer registration database via cellular phones.
"This will make a critical difference to our capacity to combat praedial larceny," the minister said.
Hutchinson, in 2008, proposed use of modern technology in the fight against farm theft.
"Di t'ief dem a get high-tech, so we a go get 'high-techer'," Hutchinson told Parliament in 2008.
The government then embarked on an animal identification programme, but Clarke, then the opposition spokesman on agriculture, blasted the plan, labelling it an ill-conceived idea.
Clarke said thieves could still butcher and sell animals without getting caught, as the entrails containing the chip might be left in the field.
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