The soils, formed from sandstone, are infertile and hold water too poorly for productive rice farming. Relatively large areas are covered with salt caps. A series of dams on the tributaries of the Mekong have irrigated some areas and brought hydroelectric power to the region. The northeast's monsoon deciduous forest, which loses its leaves in the dry season, has been repeatedly burned to make charcoal and to clear land for planting kenaf, a fiber that is a major product of the region. Historically, the northeast has been known for livestock production.
Animals graze in the forest and on soils unsuitable for rice.
Great annual buffalo drives once gathered and herded tens of thousands of animals hundreds of miles to the Central Plains, where the bullocks and water buffalo are needed to pull plows and carts. Elephants were bred and were caught as calves in the forest and trained for transportation and as beasts of burden. Domesticated elephants continue to be used, especially in the lumber industry of the north. Wild elephants, however, are near extinction, as their habitat is continually converted to agricultural land. Today farmers in the northeast plant some corn and tapioca as well as their traditional sticky rice.