L IVING IN S UB -S AHARAN A FRICA

A GRICULTURE Farming is the main economic activity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most people in the region engage in subsistence farming. A small-scale agriculture that provides primarily for the needs of just a family or village Nomadic tribes (Masai in Kenya and Tanzania / Fulani Nigeria and other western African countries) use shifting farming A method in which farmers move every one to three years to find better soil AKA slash-and-burn farming: Using basic tools they clear and cultivate land, burning the trees and brush they have cut. This produces ash-enriched soil, and they plant new seeds. In area with permanent good soil, farmers practice sedentary farming. Agriculture that is conducted at permanent settlements Examples: The Kikuyu in Kenya, and the Hausa in Nigeria Small percentage of the population works at commercial farming A farm that produce crops at a large scale Most of these commercial farms are foreign owned

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C HALLENGES In Zimbabwe, there has been a clash between subsistent farmers and commercial farmers due to the distribution of land Of the more than 11 million people in the country, only 4,000 (mostly descendants of Europeans) control 40% of the total farmland. Other challenges: Overgrazing Overworked soils Lack of technology In response to these issues, farmers in Zambia have started to practice conservation farming A land-management technique that helps protect farmland

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L OGGING AND F ISHING Logging in Sub-Saharan Africa makes up less than 10% of the world’s lumber supply. However, many coastal countries with rain forests, such as Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and South Africa, do export significant amounts of lumber and pulp Fishing is another minor, yet important part of the regions economy The richest fishing grounds lie off the region’s west coast Countries bordering oceans – South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal – haul the largest catches Also, island countries rely on fishing as a part of their economy.

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M INING R ESOURCES South Africa The Witwatersrand – a gold deposit 300 miles long, making South Africa the world’s largest producer of gold Also a heavy producer of diamonds, gems, coal, platinum, chromium, vanadium, and manganese. Most of the money from this mining goes to white South Africans Guinea One-third of the world’s bauxite, used in making aluminum, reserve. Nigeria The region’s only member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

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I NDUSTRIALIZATION Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa has been slow. The lack of infrastructure – resources such as trained worker, facilities, and equipment – forces the controls to export their raw resources instead of processing it themselves. A very small percentage (around 15% in the late 1990s) of the regions GDP comes from manufacturing

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