Economy
The area has few roads which partially explains the relatively low population density. In June 2005 the UN Integrated Regional Information Network reported that the roads in Grand Kru had decayed and become overgrown by dense bush, rendering them impassable, except on foot, and that the bridge across the Nu River at Barclaville had been destroyed.
The primary industry is subsistence, largely slash and burn, farming. The most important crops are upland rice, cassava, palm nuts, and along the coast, fishing. Feed corn is grown at higher elevations farther inland. Sugar cane and several varieties of bananas grow in the wetland areas. Cash crops include coffee, cocoa and kola. Locally grown bamboo and piassava palm are widely used for construction, mats and baskets. Many tropical fruits, domestic and wild, grow in the region including oranges, limes, mangos, soursop, breadfruit and coconut.
Poultry, cattle, sheep and goats are found in and around most villages. Most animals are of pygmy variety as larger varieties die quickly due to the heat and humidity. Prior to the civil war the region's extensive rainforests contained a wide variety of wildlife including wild pigs, bongo, dik-dik, pangolin, civet, pygmy hippo, African buffalo and colobus monkey all of which are hunted for food and hides. Also found are snakes, and very small populations of forest elephants and leopards.
Read more about this topic: Grand Kru County
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“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.”
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)