The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : State should get its share: Mullakkara

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Sunday, Jun 17, 2007
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

State should get its share: Mullakkara

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran has said that the State should get its due share in the special agricultural scheme of Rs.25,000 crore announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In a fax message sent on Saturday, he asked Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to bring the State’s demand to the Prime Minister’s attention. He said that a look at the scene from 1999 to 2005 would show that the price crash had affected crops which made a significant contribution to the economy like pepper, coffee, areca and tea.

Kerala had lost an estimated Rs.3,265.94 crore as a result of it. Wayanad and Idukki, which were the main centres of these crops, were the worst affected. If the figures of the other districts were taken into consideration, the total loss would be much higher.

The prices of these produce depended on the international market and the Centre’s export policy. The Centre’s liberalisation policy, the agreement with the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the bilateral agreement between India and Sri Lanka, and the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) had increased the intensity of the price crash. The implementation of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreement would further worsen the situation.

The Minister said the import duty recently announced by the Centre had put the coconut cultivators in trouble. Their plight was further worsened by the reduction of import duty on palmolein by 45 per cent which led to a fall in the price of coconut oil by Rs.200 per quintal.

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