Food crops are produced mainly by peasant farmers using simple hand tools. The average land holding per farmer is about 0.5 ha. Mixed cropping is gradually giving way to mono cropping especially for crops such as maize, yam, rice and cassava.

There is a decreasing level use of inorganic fertilizers. Crop productivity levels do not increase appreciably with each cropping season as a result of poor soil fertility management practices and erratic rainfall pattern.

Income levels of food crop farmers are low because of the low yields from their farms. The major food crops cultivated in the district are maize, rice, vegetables (okro, pepper garden-egg and tomato), yam, cassava and plantain.