Less than 10 percent of the land is available for cultivation. Rice is the staple food crop. Other major crops are coffee, cocoa, oil palm, cassavas, millet, and peanuts. Livestock raising is a significant source of income. About a third of the land is under permanent pasture.
Cattle raising is concentrated in the north.
One of the world's largest producers of industrial diamonds and gemstones, Sierra Leone also produces iron ore, bauxite, and rutile. Its deposits of rutile, a crystalline form of titanium dioxide, are among the largest in the world. Mineral exports provide more than half of the country's foreign exchange earnings. Furniture and cigarette making, brewing, petroleum refining, and flour and saw milling are the chief manufacturing industries. Small-scale industries include weaving and the curing and smoking of fish.