The District is described as a natural resource based-economy with over 80 percent of the rural households engaged in subsistence agriculture.

However, it should be noted that there is increasing shortage of usable land for subsistence agriculture. The District is faced with severe depletion of soil nutrients, increasing levels of poverty as a result of slow down of agriculture, more so, loss of soil fertility.
Kalungu’s main livelihood activity is subsistence agriculture where annual crops are grown and animals reared. However, it is important to note that it is mostly women who participate greatly in subsistence farming. Majority of the men in Kalungu district participate in other activities which are basically agricultural out related.