Oio
Oio exhibits poverty trap dynamics: 23.7% of national poor concentrated in landlocked interior, highest poverty incidence, pure cashew dependency.
Oio Region represents the apex of Guinea-Bissau's poverty concentration: 23.7% of the nation's poor live here—more than any other region. Together with Gabú (17.1%) and Bafatá, Oio forms the interior poverty triangle that concentrates 55% of national poverty in three landlocked, cashew-dependent territories. The high incidence of poverty here isn't a data artifact—it's the structural outcome of geographic disadvantage.
The cashew monoculture that defines Guinea-Bissau defines Oio most intensely. When 70% of households nationally depend on cashew income, the figure is higher here. When only 3% of raw cashew production gets processed domestically, the value-added that could create employment flows to India instead. When adverse weather reduced the 2024 harvest, Oio's farmers absorbed the loss with no alternative income source.
The poverty here is both absolute and relative. Oio lacks the port access of Bissau, the fishing alternatives of Biombo, the border trade possibilities of Cacheu. The region exemplifies what development economists call a 'poverty trap': insufficient income to invest in productivity improvements, insufficient productivity to generate income. When Guinea-Bissau's 4.8% GDP growth in 2024 reflected 'strong activity in the services sector,' that meant Bissau. Oio's contribution was raw cashews—unprocessed, underpriced, and vulnerable to the next bad harvest.