Occurrence of microplastics (MP) in natural paddy fields and its impact are less studied. This study reports the abundance of MP in two paddy fields of Kerala, India, cultivating rice crops, 'Pokkali' and 'Uma' crops, which are vital to Kerala's food security and climate resilience. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses confirmed the presence of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) fragments as major MP in the surface water of paddy fields during vegetative (transplantation) and ripening (near harvesting) phases. MP density in the vegetative phase of 'Pokkali' (1370 ± 468.51 fragments/m