Gardens provide a large proportion of the villager's subsistence food and are cash crop as well. The main crops are root vegetables such as kumara, taro and pana. Slippery cabbage and paw-paw are also grown. Most villages produce coconut for sale. Up to thirteen species of birds are taken regularly for food.
All villages harvest marine animals including clams, turtles and sharks.
A smaller number of villages take crayfish, dolphin and octopus and a species of seaweed. In East Rennell fish is a regular part of the diet but it is mostly Tilapia mozambica which is harvested from the lake. The government introduced this species around 1957 as an additional protein source for the villagers. There has been no commercial logging on Rennell but local people have been using portable mills to produce timber for local use. Most villages have an average of two chainsaws.