A worker is covering mounds of rice with a giant hat-shaped bamboo cone to keep it dry in a rice processing mill in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh. This is a traditional method of keeping freshly collected rice protected from rain and fog after it has dried in the sun. Rice is the staple food of about 140 million people of Bangladesh. It provides nearly 48% of rural employment, about two-third of total calorie supply and about one-half of the total protein intake of an average person in the country. Rice sector contributes one-half of the agricultural GDP and one-sixth of the national income in Bangladesh. Bangladesh.