Kerala will request the central government not to go ahead with the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with Southeast Asian countries as it would adversely affect agriculture in the state, a minister said Saturday.
A special meeting of the state cabinet, held at the official residence of Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan here, has taken the decision in this regard, Agriculture Minister Mullakara Ratnakaran told reporters.
"This would spell doom to all agriculture activities in the state, particularly in districts like Idukki and Wayanad," said Ratnakaran.
The state's decision comes a day after the central cabinet gave green signal to signing the trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Ratnakaran said it it was "quite surprising" that the central government decided to go ahead with the FTA despite strong opposition from farmers.
The FTA will eliminate import tariffs on around 4,000 items.
The final agreement is all set to be inked at the forthcoming meeting of ASEAN in November and will be implemented from Jan 1 next year.
For Kerala this is a shock because the state has been consistently demanding that the customs tariff of not just the primary agricultural products but also processed products like cashew kernels, tyres and coir products should be maintained at the maximum levels to protect the domestic sector.
The prospects of Kerala's pepper, tea, coffee, spices and rubber could be hurt when the markets is flooded with imports from other countries.
When the agreement is implemented, the present 70 percent import duty on pepper will come down by 2 percent every year.
Likewise, the import duty on tea and coffee, which is now 80 percent, would come down to 45 percent and that on rubber would come down to 50 percent after 10 years.
Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, who is now in the state, said it was quite natural for states like Kerala to be upset about such agreements.
"A committee has been appointed to look into these issues," he added.