Upper Volta - The economy

Upper Volta is a poor country. Its development is severely limited by natural factors. The country is badly located, landlocked, and an average distance of 520 miles from the sea. Soils are poor, climatic conditions hard. There is a shortage of water and a lack of known mineral resources. The most encouraging factor is probably the population itself, which is hard working and relatively well organized. The main economic activity is agriculture. Most of it is of a subsistence nature. Agricultural output is low, and the principal activity of the bulk of Upper Volta's population is devoted to the cultivation of food crops - millet and sorghum - for the subsistence of the cultivators. Production for the market, mainly cotton, is still at an early stage, but increasing slowly. Livestock is the principal source of wealth and probably one of the most promising economic activities. Exports of cattle represent more than fifty per cent of total official exports; in addition, Upper Volta is the cross-roads for relatively important trade in cattle between Mali and Niger, on the one side, and Ghana and the Ivory Coast, on the other.