With almost 41,000 hectares of agricultural land under paddy cultivation being converted into residential plots in the last couple of years, the South Indian state of Kerala, once known for its paddy fields and coconut plantations, is now facing severe shortage of rice.

While the state's staple food requirement of rice was about 60 lakh MT a year, the domestic production has slid around seven lakh MT forcing it to rely heavily on neighboring states.

The trend of converting rice fields into real estate properties has slowly gained momentum over the last few years with land prices soaring to fancy levels.