WAVY Portsmouth,VA,USA - RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The National Black Farmers Association is kicking off a series of public meetings across the South to help tobacco farmers take advantage of the pending buyout.

The series will begin Saturday at Saint Paul's College.

The ten (b) billion-dollar federal Tobacco Transition Payment Program ends the decades-old tobacco marketing quotas and provides transition payments to eligible quota holders and growers.

Payments will be made annually beginning this year and ending in 2014. Sign-up for the program ends June 17th.

Mecklenburg County farmer John Boyd -- the group's president and founder -- says tobacco farmers and quota holders could end up losing money if they are not adequately informed of the buyout process.

They plan public meetings through May in North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky.