The Middle Belt of West Africa is NOT characterised by one of the following. Which one?

Answer Details

The Middle Belt of West Africa is the sparsely populated transitional zone lying between the densely settled coastal south and the Sudano-Sahelian north. It stretches across parts of Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and other West African countries.

The Middle Belt is characterised by:

• Few large towns - settlement is predominantly rural with scattered small villages.
• Low population densities - the area has historically been underpopulated due to factors such as tsetse fly infestation, poor accessibility, and inter-ethnic conflicts.
• Ethnic fragmentation - the zone contains a large number of small ethnic groups, unlike the more homogeneous populations in the far north and south.

However, much export crop production is NOT a characteristic of the Middle Belt. Export crops (also called cash crops) such as cocoa, rubber, and palm oil are concentrated in the wetter southern forest zone, while groundnuts and cotton dominate the northern savanna. The Middle Belt's agriculture is predominantly subsistence-oriented, focused on food crops like yams, guinea corn, millet, and cassava for local consumption rather than large-scale export production.