Subsistence and commercial agriculture is mostly practiced in the outlying districts of the state. Some of the food crops cultivated are millet, cowpeas, sorghum, maize and rice for local consumption while groundnuts and cotton are produced for export and industrial purposes. During the colonial period and several years after the country’s independence, the groundnuts produced in the state constituted one of the major sources of revenue for the country. Kano State is a major producer of hides and skins, sesame, soybean, cotton, garlic, gum arabic and chili pepper.