Crop theft rampant in eastern Slovakia

The stealing of vegetables and equipment from farms has become so rampant in eastern Slovakia, that the local farming cooperative in Gemerská Poloma (Košice region) has entirely abandoned the growing of potatoes and poppy, focusing now only on low-budget plants, such as cereals. This was reported in the SME daily on Monday. Cooperative chair Zuzana Subovitsová commented that even the Farming Act of 2005, one of the strictest in the EU, isn't offering much help for stricken farmers. "They don't steal only what's welded," said the cooperative chairman from Čičarovce (Košice region). Under the Farming Act, those who steal a single watermelon, for example, can end up in prison for as much as two years. While it seems that the harsh law has had an effect in the western half of Slovakia, it's a different story in the eastern half of the country. The SME daily reports that a thief from the Banská Bystrica region was caught and sentenced to six months in prison for stealing corn with a value of €8. The court justified the sentence by the fact that the culprit had been in prison as many as eleven times before.