Hello again! It was great meeting you in our video chat! I hope you learned a lot about animal adaptations, and I anticipate today you’ll learn just as much about how the natural resources in a country can affect the economy. Just to remind you, the economy is the system through which people spend and earn money from buying and selling goods and services. Natural resources, such as water, soil, animals, plants, minerals, oil and even the weather influence what types of goods and services people can make in a certain area.
Let’s look at an example. Here in Malawi, corn is a common crop for farmers to grow. But farmers need to manage the natural resources in order to be successful. According to the bar graph, it usually rains a lot from December until April, and then it is dry from May until November. Knowing this, farmers plant their corn just after the rains have started in December so their crops will have plenty of water as they grow. When the corn is ready, they sell it to earn money. Now that they have money, they can buy different types of food, clothes, phones, and other items. What do you think would happen if farmers planted their seeds in July?
