Paddy fields are socio-ecological systems, not just units of food production. Discuss their role in flood regulation and food security, and suggest measures to stop their conversion.

Paddy fields work like wetlands. They hold water, recharge aquifers, support biodiversity and give rural families a living. The Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 was passed because "indiscriminate and uncontrolled" conversion threatened food security and ecological balance [1]. Even so, Keralam's rice area has fallen from about 8.8 lakh ha in the mid-1970s to about 1.8 lakh ha in 2023-24 [2].

Role in flood regulation

• Storing monsoon water: fields with raised earth banks (bunds) hold runoff and release it slowly, which lowers flood peaks downstream.
• Groundwater recharge: standing water seeps down, keeping wells and summer streams alive.
• One connected system: the Act protects the channels, ponds and bunds linked to paddy land, not just the fields [1].
• Lessons from disaster: after the 2018 floods, the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment called for eco-sensitive, risk-informed land use [3].

Role in food security

• Falling output: in 2023-24 alone, rice area fell 5.9% and production fell 10.5% [2]. This makes the state rely more on rice from other states.
• More than one product: paddy fields also support fish, ducks, fodder and farm wages. Kuttanad's below-sea-level farming shows how all of these work together.

Why conversion continues

• Paying to legalise conversions: Section 3A, added through the Kerala Finance (No. 2) Act, 2015, legalised past conversions for a fee [4]. The 2018 amendment extended the Act to "unnotified land" [5].
• The state earns from it: in 2021-22, ₹239.48 crore, or 51% of receipts under that head, came from collections under the 2018 amendment [6].
• Land speculation and low farm incomes make building on fields pay better than growing rice.

Measures

• Legislative: make any change to the Act through a stand-alone Bill examined by a committee, not through Finance Acts. Fix one final cut-off date for legalising conversions.
• Economic: keep conversion fees in a separate fund for restoring wetlands. Set fees according to the ecological damage. Pay farmers for ecosystem services and procure their rice at fair prices.
• Planning: map paddy land and flood-retention land using GIS (digital mapping). Put these maps into panchayat land-use plans and ban conversion on floodplains.
• Community: bring fallow land back into use through group farming by padasekhara samitis (local paddy farmers' groups).

Paddy fields protect against floods, feed people and support livelihoods all at once. Protecting them needs fixed rules, real economic rewards and planning led by local bodies. That would turn the Act's purpose into results on the ground and support SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).