States » SouthPosted at: Sep 19 2026 3:31PM


States need financial support for climate disaster preparedness: Minister T. Siddique

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19 (UNI) The Centre should provide adequate financial assistance to states for taking preventive measures against climate-related disasters rather than releasing funds only after agricultural losses occur, Kerala Agriculture Minister T. Siddique has said.
Addressing the South Zone Agricultural Conference of Agriculture Ministers here, Siddique said climate change was seriously affecting Kerala, with night temperatures remaining above 20 degrees Celsius and daytime temperatures rising beyond 36 degrees Celsius. Such extreme weather conditions were a matter of serious concern for the agriculture sector, he said on Friday.
The Minister said Kerala was implementing various programmes and measures to tackle the adverse impact of climate change, but financial constraints remained a major challenge. Climate change was triggering extreme heat and drought, including conditions associated with phenomena such as El Nino, besides intense rainfall, floods and landslides, he said.
Siddique urged the Centre to extend urgent financial assistance to states to meet these challenges and strengthen disaster preparedness. Such support would help financially constrained states undertake preventive measures without compromising on preparedness, he said.
Agriculture Ministers from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Karnataka also raised similar concerns at the conference.
Siddique also urged the Centre to raise the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loan limit from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh while retaining the existing four per cent interest rate for farmers.
He further sought withdrawal of the Centre's guidelines that could result in the loss of Geographical Indication (GI) status for the seed developed by the Onattukara Development Agency.
The South Zone Agricultural Conference was inaugurated by union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The conference discussed digitalisation of information relating to agricultural activities, farmers, crops and benefits, besides various Central Government agricultural schemes, including those concerning palm oil production.
Siddique also explained the agricultural scheme being implemented by Kerala as part of the Year of Women Farmers and the Kathir scheme announced for students.
Union Ministers of State for Agriculture Ram Nath Thakur and Bhagirath Choudhary, besides Agriculture Ministers from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, attended the conference.
UNI DS
Tags: #States need financial support for climate disaster preparedness: Minister T. Siddique
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