Agriculture employs more people in Ecuador than does any other economic activity. Most of the nation's bananas, cacao, coffee, and sugar cane are raised on plantations that are located in the Coastal Lowland. Oranges and rice are also grown in many coastal areas. Exporting bananas in Ecuador Most of the food for the people who live in Ecuador's cities comes from haciendas in the Andes Highland. Crops grown in the Andes Highland include beans, corn, potatoes, and wheat.
Farmers raise cattle for meat and for dairy products.
Ecuador ranks as the world's leading producer of balsa wood, which grows in the Coastal Lowland. Forests in the Eastern Lowland yield such tropical hardwoods as mahogany. But much rich farmland and timberland in the Coastal and Eastern lowlands has not been developed. The coastal waters of Ecuador are rich in fish. Ecuadoreans catch herring and mackerel along the coast.