Over eighty percent (80%) of the inhabitants of Sokoto State practice one form of agriculture or the other. They produce crops such as millets, guinea-corn, maize, rice, potatoes, cassava, groundnut and beans for subsistence and produce wheat, cotton, tobacco and vegetables for cash. Local crafts such as blacksmithing, weaving, dying, carving and leather works also play an important role in the economic life of the people of the State. The State is one of the fish-producing areas of the Country. Thus a large number of people along the River basins engaged in these fishing activities.
Sokoto State is equally endowed with natural and mineral resources. Agro-allied industries using cotton, groundnut, sorghum, maize, rice, wheat, sugar cane, cassava, gum arabic and tobacco as raw materials can be established in the State. Large-scale farming can also be practised in the State using irrigation water from Goronyo Dam, Lugu, Kalmalo, Wamakko and Kwakwazo lakes.
Minerals such as Kaolin, Gypsum limestone, laterite, Red mills, Phosphate, both yellow and green shade clay, sand etc. are available in the State in commercial quantities. Mineral-based industries, using these raw materials could be established in the State. The Tsetse-free open grassland has made animal husbandry a very lucrative venture in the State. There are all kinds of animals both wild and domestic in the State. Sokoto ranks second in Livestock production in the country with an animal population of well over eight (8) million. The availability of these economic potentials provides good investment opportunities, particularly in agro-allied industries such as flour mills, tomato processing, sugar refining, textiles, glue, tanning, fish canning, dairy etc. That is why the 23 Local Government Headquarters in the State have been connected to the National grid.
Source:
Government of Sokoto State https://sokotostate.gov.ng
