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Livestock: $6 million in Losses

In Costa Rica, it is estimated that nearly $6 million is lost each year because of theft and illicit piecing of cattle on the country's farms.

Monday, March 4, 2019

The Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) reports 37,427 head of cattle stolen or cut up between January 2007 and November 2018, with a unit value of around $670 (400,000 colones). According to businessmen in the sector, the main problem is that many of the thefts are not reported by the cattle ranchers, making it even more difficult to identify the criminals behind the cases.

The president of the Corporación Ganadera (Corfoga), Leonardo Luconi, told Nacion.com that "... The rancher does not denounce and that has a logical explanation: “they killed my cow and I am not going to recover it, if I am going to denounce I lose the day and usually nothing happens”, then the figure that is not reported is much larger than the one that is denounced. The sector most affected is that of cattle, 85% of the animals stolen (31,936)."

"... The National Agricultural Survey 2017, prepared by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC), supports the explanation of the president of Corfoga. In that study, ranchers reported the loss of 8,923 animals by theft or piece-off, or 6,557 more than those reported to the OIJ. The difference between the cases reported and those counted by the survey is 277%. This disparity would increase the losses per year of the cattle sector from ¢946 million to ¢3,569 million."

Source: Nacion.com