The claims were made during the first debate on the Rural Needs Bill.
The legislation is intended to make executive departments and councils consider the impact of policies on people in rural Northern Ireland.
The agriculture minister said "rural-proofing" already in place is "patchy".
The bill would put it on a statutory footing.
Democratic Unionist Party MLA Sydney Anderson said rural dwellers had "lost many services" and that had a major impact on vulnerable groups like the elderly.
He said it was a "small bill that covers a big subject" and would be of interest to many people living in rural communities, which he described as an "essential part of the fabric of society".
Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said there was a "dearth of detail" in the bill.
It will apply only to executive departments and councils and any other public body included in a list by the Department of Agriculture.
He said if organisations that delivered services, such as the Education Authority and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), weren't included on that list it would be a "fundamental mistake".
He added it was often those bodies that took the "detrimental decisions" of which people complained.
Mr Allister was particularly critical of the NIEA, which he said was "anti-rural".
He said it had blocked "go-ahead" poultry farmers who wished to extend over concerns about ammonia influence on a "derelict bog" in the middle of his constituency.
People living in the countryside have been "disadvantaged and neglected" by cuts in the provision of schools, banks and public transport, the Northern Ireland Assembly has been told.