The Min­is­ter of Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries is warn­ing the pub­lic against pur­chas­ing il­le­gal live­stock and agri­cul­tur­al prod­ucts.

On Tues­day, Sen­a­tor Kaz­im Ho­sein un­der­took a com­pre­hen­sive tour of key sites across the south­ern penin­su­la, in­clud­ing ar­eas along Ce­dros and Ica­cos, in a proac­tive move to sen­si­tize the pub­lic on the health risks as­so­ci­at­ed with the im­por­ta­tion of il­le­gal pro­duce.

A re­lease from the Min­istry re­ports that the tour was aimed at as­sess­ing chal­lenges and en­gag­ing with key agri­cul­tur­al stake­hold­ers. Of par­tic­u­lar con­cern dur­ing the tour was the ram­pant il­le­gal im­por­ta­tion of agri­cul­tur­al prod­ucts and wildlife, a threat that pos­es sig­nif­i­cant risks to both the en­vi­ron­ment and pub­lic health.

"Our pur­pose to­day is to bring aware­ness to the pub­lic re­gard­ing the il­le­gal im­por­ta­tion of an­i­mals,” Min­is­ter Ho­sein said.  “Cit­i­zens must be cau­tious of the il­le­gal im­por­ta­tion of an­i­mals and an­i­mal prod­ucts. This il­lic­it ac­tiv­i­ty not on­ly pos­es a threat to our lo­cal ecosys­tems but al­so jeop­ar­dizes the lives and liveli­hoods of our cit­i­zens."

The Min­is­ter al­so urged cit­i­zens to be vig­i­lant and re­port any sus­pi­cious ac­tiv­i­ties.

"I strong­ly cau­tion against the pur­chase of items stem­ming from il­le­gal im­ports. These ac­tions not on­ly im­pact our com­mu­ni­ties but al­so have se­vere health im­pli­ca­tions. We can­not com­pro­mise the well-be­ing of our fam­i­lies and loved ones, so I urge every­one to be proac­tive in safe­guard­ing our en­vi­ron­ment and pub­lic health," Min­is­ter Ho­sein warned.

The Min­is­ters and their team had an op­por­tu­ni­ty to meet with farm­ers like Mr. De Fre­itas, who has over 90 acres of land ded­i­cat­ed to live­stock and live­stock pro­duce, as well as fresh fruits.

In ad­di­tion, they learnt about the ex­er­cis­es be­ing con­duct­ed in the Ce­dros area by of­fi­cers from the Prae­di­al Lar­ce­ny Squad, led by In­spec­tor Haspood­een, along with the Game War­dens.

Min­is­ter Ho­sein was ac­com­pa­nied by Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries, Sen­a­tor Avinash Singh; Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Point Fortin, Kennedy Richards Jr.; Deputy Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary, Nela Dwari­ka-Ali. 

Al­so on the tour were a tech­ni­cal team from the Forestry Di­vi­sion’s Wildlife Sec­tion, Re­gion­al Ad­min­is­tra­tion South Di­vi­sion, An­i­mal Pro­duc­tion and Health Di­vi­sion, the Agri­cul­tur­al So­ci­ety of TT and Live­stock and Live­stock Prod­ucts Board, as well as the Prae­di­al Lar­ce­ny Squad.