KISHOREGANJ DISTRICT, Bangladesh ¨C Standing in his paddy field in northeastern Bangladesh, Shafiqul Islam Talukder holds a handful of empty stalks ¡ª all chaff, with no rice grains.
Two days of sudden, intensely hot air that swept across the country in April disrupted the rice¡¯s growth, destroying the crop his family was supposed to survive the year on, the 45-year-old farmer from Kishoreganj district explained.
¡°The same thing happened to the adjacent field of mine. My dream crop is finished,¡± he said with tears in his eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t think of how to support the family for a whole year. I invested my savings and planted five hectares of high-yielding rice. Now it¡¯s all over.¡±
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