Thiruvananthapuram: Over 10,000 hectares of paddy land were converted in Kerala for residential and other non-agricultural purposes in six years, fetching the revenue department a total revenue of Rs 1606.9 crore as land conversion fee, according to the figures furnished in the assembly. Thrissur recorded the highest number of conversions; 2150.58 hectares in seven taluks followed by Ernakulam where 1649.86 hectares of land were converted between 2018-19 and 2024-25.

The highest revenue from land conversions was recorded in 2022-23; Rs 385.79 crore. In 2024, till April, the Revenue Department collected Rs 217.25 crore. The state government also spent heavily on expediting the process of converting paddy land. An amount of Rs 15.29 crore was allotted to take vehicles on rent and install computers and the government allotted Rs 34.89 crore on deploying temporary staff for processing applications for land conversion.

In the meantime, an amount of Rs 6 lakhs was allocated to restore paddy lands which were illegally reclaimed. Till February 4, 2025, the government received 5.62 lakh applications to change the nature of land online of which 2.9 lakh files were cleared.

As per the latest economic review report, in 2023-24, the area under rice cultivation (wetland) in the state decreased to 1.8 lakh hectare showing a decrease of 5.9 per cent compared to 2022-23. The production and productivity of wetland rice in 2023-24 was 5.3 lakh tonnes and 2,963 kg per hectare, respectively. They registered a decrease of 10.5 per cent and 4.9 per cent, respectively, over 2022-23.

Rice constituted 7.1 per cent of the total cropped area in the state in 2023-24. In the last 10 years, the highest share of area under paddy was recorded in 2020-21 i.e. 2 lakh hectare with a production of 6.3 lakh tonnes, the report noted.