1. Agriculture: The livelihood of the rural population is mainly consisted of traditional farming which is almost exclusively dependent on the seasonal rainfalls. In spite of reasonably favorable climatic environment to farm various crop types such as wheat, maize,teff, barely, and varieties of grains, the average annual production of crops is less than three-four quintals, which can only feed one household for about four months. This is mainly due to unpredictable and erratic rainfalls coupled withthe absence of modern farming mechanisms.The arable land of the district is overused and the farming system has remained underdeveloped. Agricultural production remains to be very low and immaterial. Hence, there has always been a critical food deficit throughout the year. The main causes for the low agricultural production are severe environmental degradation, terrain nature of the land topography, inadequate and erratic nature of rainfall, land fragmentation and small size of land holding, lack of appropriate technology, lack of improved seeds and inputs, poor livestock extension services, low per capita oxen ownership, and poor socio-economic infrastructure development, to name a few.

   Given the current technology, Irob district households do not manage to produce more than 3-4 months of their annual cereal caloric needs from their plot. Their cereal caloric need for the remaining time is covered by different coping mechanisms such as daily labor, food aids by government or local NGOs, food for work, cash for work, and or support from family members from abroad or at home.

2. The size of landholding: As aforementioned, the topography of the district is consisted of deep gorges, mountains, and hills with limited arable land size of only 1,269.6 hectares. As the population size has increased, the average arable-land size per household continued to diminish, and currently it is estimated to be 0.20 hectares per household. Furthermore, out of the 6,900 households about 30% have no land of their own.
3. Livestock production: The primary livestock of Irob people consist of small herds of cattle, goats, sheep, and tradition beekeeping. Traditional livestock development had social status. However, since the Ethio-Eritrean war of 1998-2000, livestock production has been reduced to the minimum. Today, Animal products such as milk, butter, and meat have become scarce and almost non-existent.
4. Honey harvest: The bio-diversity of the Irob environment was very favorable for honey producing bee colonies. Honey was one of the main sources of income for many of the Irob people. In fact, honey from Irob was considered the best quality in Ethiopia. However, in recent years, the environment has been drastically transformed from high bio-diversity to the barren and dusty. Indigenous plants and flowers that were the main source of food for the bees have become extinct resulting to the disappearance of the honey-producing bees, hence significantly reducing the production of honey in the district.
5. Wild food: The environment of Irob district used to be so much rich in bio-diversity. It was the home for plenty of wild edible fruits, leaves and roots, such as “beles, Daro, alia’a, asemu, ainut, koto (kuanit), Aand’e, etc for anyone to freely munch-on whenever hungry. It is fair to say that the nature was generously providing various kinds of wild-foods, which were believed to be very rich in nutrients. However, the land that was once considered generous and friendly has turned into a hostile, harsh, unfriendly, and unproductive environment. Around the Irob district, the nature seems to be angry with its inhabitants; it refuses to provide them food. At this moment, there are no signs of edible wild foods except Beles, which is also in the process of deterioration due to continuous climate change and absence of modern technology.

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