Kamal Mia, a farmer in Gazipur’s Sreepur upazila, went to a local market recently to sell a maund of paddy to buy meat and other essentials as he was expecting guests.

The glittering fields of gold signal the arrival of the paddy harvesting season. Farmers across the country are busy reaping the fruits of their labour.

When it comes to Boro paddy, Sunamganj usually offers a lion's share of the nationwide harvest. But for the last two years the district has suffered from flash floods, with the 2017 crop in Sunamganj and other haor wetland areas of the northeast all but wiped out.

Rats damaged food grains including paddy, rice and wheat worth over Tk 723 crore during the 2014-15 fiscal, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury tells parliament.