Thiruvananthapuram: Agriculture minister T Siddique has urged Centre to provide financial assistance to states to undertake preventive measures against climate-related disasters instead of allocating funds only after crop losses occur.Speaking at the South Zone Agricultural Conference in Hyderabad, Siddique said climate change was increasingly affecting Keralam’s agriculture sector. He said the state govt was implementing various programmes to tackle the adverse impacts of climate change, but financial constraints remained a major challenge.“Instead of spending money after agricultural losses occur, states should be provided adequate financial assistance to take preventive measures against climate-related disasters,” Siddique said.He said climate change was resulting in extreme heat and drought as well as heavy rainfall, floods and landslides. Phenomena such as El Nino were contributing to increasingly abnormal weather conditions, he said.Siddique sought urgent financial assistance from Centre for states facing financial difficulties, warning that a lack of funds could hamper disaster-prevention measures.He also demanded that the limit of Kisan Credit Card loans be increased from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh while retaining the existing 4% interest rate.The minister further sought withdrawal of Centre’s guidelines that, he said, could lead to the loss of Geographical Indication (GI) status for the seed developed by Onattukara Development Agency.The conference, inaugurated by Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, discussed digitisation of agricultural activities, farmer-related data, crop and benefit information and various central schemes, including those promoting palm oil production.Siddique also presented Keralam’s Krishisakhi initiative being implemented as part of Year of Women Farmers and Kathir programme announced for students.Union ministers of state for agriculture Ram Nath Thakur and Bhagirath Choudhary, besides agriculture ministers from Keralam, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, attended the conference.
