FARMERS who suffer losses during natural disasters will have three days within which to file reports at project management offices (PMOs), which, according to Agriculture State Minister JC Hutchinson, were presently being established in every district.

The offices would serve to register farmers within the districts, receive data on crop production, assist in the marketing of produce and assist in the anti-praedial effort, among other things.

The minister, who was making his contribution to the 2008/09 Sectoral Debates at Gordon House in Kingston on Wednesday, said the creation of the PMOs would expedite paperwork and allow farmers to receive assistance less than a month after a natural disaster.

He said farmers would be required to report damages to the executives of the PMOs, who would in turn forward the reports to the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA).

“Whoever receives damage, whether it is house or crop or loss of livestock, they must report it to the executive of the PMO in the area within three days.

Those names will be sent to the RADA office in the parish for the loss to be verified, within a week, by the extension officers and their assistants,” Hutchinson said.

“Within three weeks after confirmation, we can start providing assistance to the farmers. We intend to make sure that farmers are back on their feet in the shortest time possible,” he added.

Pointing out that it had taken nearly a year for the identification and disbursement of funds to persons who had suffered losses as a result of the passage of Hurricane Dean, the minister said most farmers who lost animals and crops received nothing; many of those who have received assistance suffered no loss.

Noting that the establishment of the PMOs would be a catalyst, he said the executives of the office would be elected by farmers within the districts.