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Burkina Faso is one of the poorest nations in the world, with the great majority of its workers engaged in subsistence farming. Less than 10% of the country's land area is cultivable without irrigation, and droughts have further limited agricultural production; however, several dams intended for irrigation and hydroelectricity were under construction in the 1990s. The principal agricultural commodities are sorghum, millet, corn, peanuts, rice, cotton, sesame, and shea nuts. Cattle, sheep, and goats are raised.
The country's manufactures are limited largely to basic consumer goods and processed foods. Burkina Faso has a small mining industry that produces manganese, phosphates, and gold-bearing quartz; there are also small, and as yet largely untapped, deposits of antimony, copper, zinc, nickel, lead, bauxite, and uranium. The country has a comparatively good road network, and a railroad runs from Ouagadougou to the seaport of Abidjan, COte d'Ivoire, via Bobo-Dioulasso and Banfora; it is currently being extended NE to Tambao.
The annual cost of Burkina Faso's imports is usually much higher than its earnings from exports, and the nation relies on debt servicing from other countries. The principal imports are foodstuffs, petroleum, and machinery; the leading exports are cotton, peanuts and peanut oil, live animals, and gold. The chief trading partners are COte d'Ivoire and France. Large numbers of the male labor force migrate to COte d'Ivoire and (to a lesser extent) to Ghana for seasonal work, but their labor contributes little to the national economy. Burkina Faso is a member of the Franc Zone.
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