The Gambia has no sources of minerals and other natural resources of its own. The number of industries making products is small because there is not enough money to buy the latest technology and machinery. Instead, most Gambians work on the land to feed their families and to grow crops to sell for cash.

Women play an extremely important role in the workforce. They grow most of the food crops like rice, millet and vegetables. The women also have to look after the children and grandparents, and do all the domestic chores like collecting water from the wells. Clive Shirley/Panos Pictures

What jobs do the women in your family have? Are they the same as the women in The Gambia?

Meanwhile the men look after the cash crops. The main cash crop is groundnuts, or peanuts. These grow in small bushes and can cope with the dry conditions of the savannah. Once they are dried, peanuts can be sold and exported to other countries. Some people in the Gambia process the peanuts to turn them into groundnut oil, which is used as a cooking oil. Jeremy Hartley/Panos Pictures

Can people live from the money they make from peanuts?

No, it is not easy, especially because the price of peanuts has fallen on the world market. This means that The Gambia has to produce more and more peanuts to buy the same amount of imports, like fuel and machinery.

People earn money by using their own skills and imagination. Along the coast, some Gambians have managed to dry out fish skins to turn them into shoe soles. In the capital city of Banjul, the streets are lined by small businesses offering services to mend things, or to sell things like cloth.   Simon Scoones/Worldaware

More and more people are finding service jobs in the tourism industry. As Some people make woodcarvings or items of clothing to sell as souvenirs. Others have found jobs working in hotels along the beaches or at the airport near Banjul. As well as paying people's wages, some of the profits can be used to develop new roads, schools and hospitals in The Gambia. Simon Scoones/Worldaware | Betty Press/Panos Pictures

so are people in The Gambia getting rich from tourism?

No, because many of the hotels and package tours to The Gambia are not owned by Gambians. As a result, more than half of the profit from tourism never reaches the pockets of the Gambian people. It's even worse for people who live a long way from the tourist hotels along the coast have benefited little from tourism. So the money made from tourism is not shared out evenly across the country.