- Hot and wet equatorial climate
The hot and wet climate of the equatorial region encourages the prevalence of mosquitoes which spread diseases by attacking men, making him sick, weak and less productive. This climate also hastens decomposition, making food preservation difficult.
- Soil infertility
The principal soil of the tropical domain is the sandy clay ferruginous soil, otherwise known as laterite. The soil has been heavily leached from its natural plant nutrients by the heavy rainfall hence deficient in plant nutrient. The cultivation on this soil yields very low output except when fertilizers are used.
- Pest and diseases
The warm, moist climate has encouraged the prevalence of pest and diseases. For instance, the tse-tse fly that attack animals bring sleeping sickness, black pod diseases and capsid pest that attack cotton, panama that attacks banana etc. these diseases lead to low quality and quantity of output.
- Drought
In some regions such as the sudano-sahelian regions, rainfall is inadequate and unpredictable. This limits the growing seasons, limit water for plants and animals and thus crop failure, death of animals and environmental degradation.
- Storms
Tropical storms which occur during the growing season in the tropics are a menace to agriculture. They destroy crops such as rubber, banana, and maixe. This leads to drop in output.
- Poverty
The third world farmers are poor hence cannot afford enough farm equipments and chemicals (pesticides) for the eradication of plant diseases. They also do not have enough money to develop heavy leached soils with fertilizers and finance large case development projects such as irrigation or land reclamation
