Farmers resort to new cash crop: blood

Karna, a farmer from Badgaon village in northern India, has few options but to sell his blood for money, after persistent drought left him unable to live off his land.

The farmer, now 60, began commuting an hour and a half from his village to Jhansi town in Uttar Pradesh state for a job that paid little money.

"I was working as a laborer in Jhansi for survival," said Karna, who goes by one name. "When my son fell ill, I had no other option but to sell my blood for his treatment."