Member of Parliament for South Manchester Michael Peart has complained that farmers from that area, who are not Jamaica Labour Party supporters, are being sidelined by agricultural support agencies based on ministry directives.

Peart, in addressing questions to Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton during Tuesday's sitting of the House of Representatives, said he had been told by the parish manager of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in Manchester that based on instructions from the head office for registered farmers to get assistance from RADA, they would have to be a member of a production and marketing organisation (PMO).

"In Manchester, in particular the JLP councillors, have been forming PMOs amongst their supporters and followers to the exclusion of our farmers," Peart said to shouts of protest from Government benches.

"Is the PMO an affiliate of the Jamaica Labour Party? Was [there] a policy directive emanating from the ministry to the RADA office in Mandeville that only members of the PMO can get assistance from RADA even if they are registered farmers?" he asked.

Tufton, in his response said, "The answer is a flat and absolute no."

"What we have said as a policy position is that we are always going to give preference to registered farmers," the agriculture minister explained. "But registration as a farmer does not necessarily mean as part of a PMO, it would be better for the farmer, but we are not there to discriminate as long as the farmer is registered."

He further pointed out that PMOs are not a creation of the new administration.

"If you examine the mandate of RADA when it was formed in 1990 it was clearly provided for. It is not our fault that under the old administration they chose not to mobilise the PMOs," the agriculture minister added.

According to Tufton, documentation was sent out to all RADA parish offices indicating that the government of the day was encouraging the formation of PMOs.

"Nowhere on that documentation - and I challenge anybody to show me otherwise - is there any instruction as to which farmer to organise and which farmer not to organise," he said.

Dr Tufton further pointed out that the RADA extension officers, who are primarily responsible for organising these PMOs within their areas, had served under the People's National Party's 18-year administration.

"The truth is these employees have been around for a long time and their mandate is the same," Dr Tufton said.

"I'll investigate that matter, because if in fact those instructions are being given, it runs contrary to the instructions that have been given at the level of the ministry to all the parishes," he added.

The Agriculture Ministry in May of this year said as part of its programme of fostering partnership among farmers and promoting co-operative farming, the PMOs were being revived across the island.

The offices, among other things, 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.