The North risks becoming an "economic desert" if the British exchequer does not fund relief for losses caused by foot-and-mouth, the Assembly has heard.
During a debate on a motion calling for both the devolved and the British governments to introduce a hardship relief package, members warned that farming, tourism, and other related sectors had been brought to a state of near collapse by the disease.
Mr Francie Molloy of Sinn Fein called on the British Chancellor to "open up the war chest" and provide extra money, while Mrs Annie Courtney of the SDLP said such relief was necessary if "Northern Ireland is not to become an economic desert".
Mr Molloy said the existing system of rates deferment was not sufficient and called for a rates rebate scheme for farmers and a direct grant payable to businesses.
The Minister for Enterprise, Sir Reg Empey, told the Assembly that many businesses in the tourism sector had seen their incomes collapse but warned that relief packages could only do so much.
The Minister for Finance, Mr Mark Durkan, denied the rates deferment his department had implemented was "merely a cosmetic exercise".
He said there were constraints on more generous measures and maintained the deferment could "provide a breathing space" to hard-pressed businesses.
In a later debate both republicans and unionists were critical of the British approach to the crisis.
Mr Gerry McHugh of Sinn Fein said it was only right that the British exchequer should pay for the consequential losses suffered in the North as the disease had originated there and had been mishandled.
Mr Robert McCartney of the UK Unionist Party said the North was the region of the United Kingdom "most affected by the incompetence of the British Government".
The Minister for Agriculture, Ms Brid Rodgers, told the Assembly that her department was working on a number of initiatives to ensure that foot-and-mouth would never occur in the North again.