Biombo region
Economy
As of 2009, there net activity rate was 50.47 per cent, proportion of employed labour force was 35.03 per cent, proportion of labour force was 77.74 and the proportion of potentially active population was 35.03 per cent.[1] The major economic activity in the parts around the rivers and the coastal areas is fishing, while it is agriculture in the inland areas. As of 2011, the total population which is active constitutes 60 per cent nationwide indicating there are lot of employed people. But the poverty rate is very high in the country with an estimated two-thirds below the poverty line. Out of the working population, an estimated 58.4 per cent are employed in freelance activities, while wage earners formed 42 per cent. The unemployment in the region as of 2001 was 10.2 per cent, compared to the capital Bissau which has 19.3 per cent.
Totally 63.5 per cent were employed in agriculture (including forestry), 8.9 in industry and 6.1 per cent in public administration. As per IMF report in 2011, people who were engaged in agriculture were poorer compared to others, while educated and higher educated people earned more. The absolute poverty rate, people earning less than $2 a day, in the region stood at 63.6 per cent, with a regional contribution of 9.1 per cent to the national poverty totals.[2]
Bolanhas
Bolanhas are rice polders amidst the mangroves along sea arms (creeks) intruding the coastal area of Guinea Bissau. The rice poders are protected from flooding by seawater with bunds. There are acid sulfate soils inside the polders. Over decades, farmers have been able to improve the soils by continuous drainage during the rainy season. [3]
- ^ "Work profile Guinea Bissau, 2012". Central National Institute of Statistics, Guinea Bissau. 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ Guinea-Bissau: Second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Issues 11-353 of IMF country report. International Monetary Fund. 2011. p. 11.
- ^ International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement (ILRI), 1980. Rice polders in the acid sulfate soils of the bolanhas in the mangroves of Guinea Bissau. Published in Annual Report 1980, ILRI, Wageningen, The Netherlands. On line: [1]