In the North the Harmattan wind blows throughout the dry season. At the time of its independence in 1957, Ghana was the world's leading exporter of cocoa and one of Africa's leading economies. Ghana is now classified by the World Bank as a low-income country. In recent years over a third of under fives were classified as malnourished. Ghana is mostly an agricultural country.
Cocoa is still the biggest agricultural export.
The other cash export crops are coffee, bananas, palm kernels, copra, limes, cola and shea nuts. Food farming is based on the production of maize, millet, sorghum, rice, cassava, taro, yams and plantains. The principal mine is situated at Obuasi, operated by the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation. Tema is the industrial heart of the country with the country's only oil refinery and aluminium smelter.