Economy
The economy of the province is highly rooted in agriculture. According to some estimates, more than 80% of the rural population depends solely on agriculture, including a strong livestock sub-sector. Food crops include rice (planted mostly in the Ndop Plain), potatoes (found in the Bui Division and Santa in Mezam Division), and beans (from most of the province). Maize, beans, potatoes, plantains, cocoyams, cassava and yams are the main food staples for the region. Cocoyams is used for making Achu, a staple for the Ngemba people and a widely consumed delicacy across the country. A lot of groundnuts is produced in the North-West, most of it from Esimbi. The province is also a major palm wine producer with one of its towns Batibo being the palm wine capital for Cameroon. The wine produced from Batibo though distributed across the country on a daily basis, still lacks the infrastructure and technology to produce on an industrial scale.
Industry plays a very small role in the economy of the North-West province, in terms of both the number of industries and the number of people employed. Except for soap production, the rest are agricultural processing businesses. Local crafts also flourish in some parts of the province with the production of various works of arts from wood, some weaving, and pottery. Fabrication of agricultural tools was once a booming sector but is now less significant.
Read more about this topic: Northwest Region (Cameroon)
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