Agriculture is the main land use in Kanungu District and a major economic activity. The land is highly fragmented due to traditional practices of inheritance and high population density. Land is held in customary private ownership although there are few relatively well off farmers with leasehold titles. Grazing lands are communally owned and land fragmentation is a common feature. The concept of ‘land use planning’ is still new and is only practiced to a limited extent in the townships, where specific areas are assigned for industries, commercial building, residential, road networks and institutional sites. Parts of the district lie in Queen Elizabeth National Park (QEP) biosphere reserve and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) World Heritage Site. Cultivation covers most hill tops and many wetlands have been drained, while very little of the original forest outside the parks still remains. Land shortage, coupled with intensive use for subsistence agriculture, has led to soil degradation, poor yields and ultimately poverty. Some small-scale artisan fishing takes place within inland water bodies including wetlands and rivers. The majority of fish consumed in the district (~90%) are obtained in Lake Edward through the Rwenshama landing site in Rukungiri.
Most people are peasants in Kanungu District