Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

State seeks protection for agricultural products

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has requested the Union Government to include farm products such as coconut, arecanut, tea, cardamom and natural rubber in the list of protected items in the World Trade Agreement and in the Indo-ASEAN trade accord, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran told the Assembly on Friday.

Responding to a calling attention motion moved by M.V. Sreyams Kumar (JD-S), the Agriculture Minister said that on the basis of a directive from the Central Government, he had discussion with officials and experts on September 5 to identify agricultural products eligible for inclusion in the list of protected items in the WTA.

The Government had already communicated to the Centre the list of items it had identified, he said.

Mr. Ratnakaran said the State Government had also urged the Centre to announce a compensation package for coconut growers and impose a cess on value-added products, the revenue from which could be used for helping establishment of agricultural products based industrial units.

Kerala had also requested the Centre to set up an Import Monitoring Centre in the State to assess the impact of farm product imports. It had sought inclusion of products such as coconut, coconut oil, ginger, natural rubber, coir and coir products and coffee in the protected list forming part of the Indo-ASEAN trade agreement, he added.

Earlier, Mr. Sreyams Kumar pointed out that the impending lifting of Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) on some 353 agriculture products would harm farmers in Kerala.

Pointing out that farmers engaged in most major crops in Kerala, particularly coconut, were in dire straits, he urged the State Government to pay special attention to their problems.

Since agriculture was a State subject, the State should know what the Central Government planned to do with regard to the World Trade Agreement, Mr. Sreyams Kumar said.

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