John Myers Jr., Business Reporter

Jamaica Agricultural Society president Norman Grant says farmers are asking Government for 50 per cent financing of a proposed $300 million self-insurance fund.- File

The frequency of disasters and resulting damage to agriculture has prompted the main farmer's lobby to look a financing for recovery.

For now, farmers look to the Government for support, but that assistance, while often promised, is not delivered in a timely manner.

Their answer is self-insurance; but even that requires seeding capital.

The Jamaica Agriculture Society (JAS) has proposed a $300 million insurance fund, to be established through contributions from multi-national aid agencies, the Consolidated Fund, farmers and commodity boards.

Coffee farmers had made a similar proposal in relation to their sector, at the advent of the hurricane season.

Hurricane Dean's damage to Jamaican agriculture this year was estimated at $9 billion. This followed two other storms in 2005 and Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

"We would recommend to the Ministry of Agriculture to establish, by statute, a disaster self-insurance relief fund that would be managed by a board to be appointed by the minister," said JAS president Norman Grant.

Grant said the plan was to approach aid agencies that normally assist with rehabilitating the sector to contribute to the fund's start up.

"We would approach them to make a seed contribution to this disaster fund," he said.

"Secondly, the Consolidated Fund would (make) an annual contribution that comes from the country's national budget. and finally, the respective subsectors - through their commodity boards and the farmers in general - a mechanism would be found for them to contribute to the fund."

monitored by Ministry

JAS' proposal is for the fund to be monitored by the Finance Ministry, but kept outside the parameters of the Financial Services Commission, which is the regulator for the insurance sector.

Grant's group is asking Govern-ment to seed 50 per cent of the fund at start-up.

"If we aim for a seed fund of $300 million, I think it would be a good beginning to have it grow from there, and (then) there would be a calculated effort to go out there and seek support to raise the requisite funds way in advance of disaster and ensure that the appropriate mechanism is in place to provide as fast as possible the type of recovery."

The investment, he argued, would make it less burdensome for the Government to find funds to rehabilitate the sector every time there was a disaster.

He is hoping that the format of the scheme would be finalised for the proposal to be submitted to Cabinet for consideration within the next six to eight months.

"We have had discussions with the past Minister of Agriculture on it," the JAS president told Sunday Business.

"He gave it favourable consideration, but there was not enough time to deal with it."

john.myers@gleanerjm.com