Maize theft in the Free State has increased tremendously in the last few weeks, despite the lockdown, and estimated losses amount to millions.
Sadly, the vast majority of this type of theft is not even reported by farmers.
These are some of the findings from a recent survey by Free State Agriculture (FSA) among its members on maize theft in the province. According to Dr Jane Buys, FSA's Safety Risk Analyst, the survey was conducted for the period of March and April 2020 and farmers are suffering huge financial losses.
FSA sent the survey to the South African Police Service (SAPS) for attention on provincial level, hoping that the police can assist farmers in combating maize theft.
According to Buys, FSA is requesting farmers who experience this theft to report it to the JOC’s in their areas, as well as to Safety Representatives or FSA's Safety Desk during the lockdown period. Reporting crimes gives more leverage to request assistance by SAPS and the South African National Defence Force to help address the problem.
The survey shows that between 383 (fewest cases) and 631 (most cases) maize theft incidents occurred in the six or seven week period, which includes the lockdown period. This happened at 23 towns and 43 farmers in the Free State.
According to Buys, the estimated losses from these incidents are around R 1,653 million. That is despite 82.32% of farmers not reporting maize theft.
Farmers believe this is an organized crime. "About 76.74% of farmers or respondents agree that maize theft is committed in an organized way by groups," Buys says. For example, the criminals have specific outlets or markets and work in groups.
Other findings in the FSA survey:
Approximately a third of farmers (62.79%) report that minors are involved in the maize theft from agricultural land.
58.14% of farmers / respondents maintain that the motive for maize theft is not due to food shortages.
The vast majority of farmers / respondents did not appoint guards to help protect their fields, largely due to the large financial expense (74.42%).
93.02% of farmers are involved in conducting white and blue-light patrols to assist police in crime prevention or combating in rural areas within the limitations of the regulations.
It costs 27 farmers between R1 000 to R10 000 per month to drive white and blue light patrols in rural areas (62.79%), while it costs 5 farmers between R10 000 to R30 000 per month (11.63%).
89.37% (almost 90%) of farmers believe that crime prevention actions are not being launched by police to assist in addressing the maize theft.
97.67% of farmers agree that no action is taken against informal maize sellers in the township and rural village areas (by both the police and the municipality).
89.37% of farmers report that maize theft cases are not successfully prosecuted in courts.
