MAJOR ECONOMIC SECTORS

Agriculture is the main economic activity where by about 90% of the region's population depends on and about 80% of the GDP are estimated to be from that sector. The farming system is more of mixed in type that comprises field crop production and animal rearing. The average land holding is estimated to be less than 0.5 hectares. For this the agricultural sector of the economy is underdeveloped due to the imbalance between agricultural growth and population growth per annum. The agricultural growth rate of the region is below the national average, about 1.2% while the population growth rate is estimated around 3% per annum. The GDP growth rate of the region is estimated to be below the national level which is 1.6 percent

     As far as the industrial sector is concerned, there are a number of industries ranging from high technologically sophisticated, textile, medical and mechanical parts producing huge factories up to the smallest cottage industries even owned and managed by individuals. More than twenty thousand people are tempted to get- employed in this sector. Though there is abundant resource In the mining sector including precious minerals like Gold, Iron, Potash and even Petroleum much effort has not been made to utilize these untapped resources.

     While we look in to the tourist attraction potentials of the region - religious and historical features get the lead like the Axume oblisque, rock - hewn churches, king Youhannes IV palace, ---- and there are also natural, cultural and archaeological tourist attractions too that are frequently visited by foreign travelers, and Ethiopians in relation to pilgrim.

     The other is, trading-activity, which took second to the agricultural sector in subsidizing the peoples living. A large number of Tigreans engage in various trading activities since long time ago in history, but the low capital petty traders took the lion share.