Located, as they are, so close to the Asante and Dahomey kingdoms, both of which sold slaves directly to European merchants, the Kabre supplied slaves to these and other powerful centralized states. Perhaps in an effort to maintain societal stability, Kabre sold their own kin into slavery, rather than suffer the consequences of slave raids. Kabre economy centers around what is known as presentational gift giving. This means that most surplus is given away to other community members in an effort to foster social ties, which in time may lead to intermarriage and familial ties. Crops in the region include yams, millet, and peanuts.
Sorghum is grown largely for use in local beer production.
Although markets do exist in Kabre land, economic exchange is rooted in practices of bartering, where something is exchanged for something of equal value, rather than exchanged for cash, which can be used to buy things produced outside of the local economy. Stability in Kabre society is maintained through complex levels of gift giving and exchange. Historically, Kabre land was uncentralized, and on occasion tribute was demanded by their centralized neighbors. Families do own land, but often this land is lent out to others in order to establish gift giving ties, and products which grow naturally on fallow land are not considered the property of the owner. What begins as lower level exchanges involving yams and sorghum, may eventually lead to the exchange of meat and beer and eventually to the exhange of women between families.