As the fierce midday sun beat down on his 2.4 hectares of fields in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state, Ali Sher shrugged and carried on sorting through the cucumbers he’s cultivated, telling his wife and seven children to keep going.
“We work here the whole day,” the 53-year old farmer told CBC News. “No matter how hot it gets, we still have to work. We have no other option.”
The intense heat also scorches the crops — forcing the family to spend more time outside, watering and tending to the cucumbers, which they cart into large barrels, fastening them to sell later at