Throughout the Ashanti area the climate is tropical, with an annual mean temperature of over 80 degrees F. There are two distinct seasons, a rainy season from about April to November, and a dry season the rest of the year. The average annual rainfall around Kumasi, the former Ashanti capital, is 57 inches, but there are considerable annual variations. Despite this tropical setting, Ashanti territory is divided into two quite different ecological zones, northern and southern. The northern zone is drier and is characterized by a savannah-forest type of vegetation, with stunted trees scattered over large expanses of grasslands. The natural vegetation of the southern zone consists of high forest, but little virgin forest now remains. The most common vegetation today is that of the cultivated plots of cacao (cocoa) trees and the natural growth of brush on formerly cultivated land.

These differing ecological zones have given rise to contrasting types of agriculture. In the north the main subsistence and cash crop is yams, followed by guinea corn; by 1950 there still had not been any large-scale development of export crops. In the south, a much larger variety of subsistence crops is grown, including especially yams, cocoyams, manioc, and maize. Also, there has been widespread development of major commercial crops such as the kola-nut and particularly cocoa. In fact, cocoa farming has become the main economic activity in the southern zone.

The Ashanti are noted for their expertise in a variety of specialized crafts. These include weaving, wood carving, ceramics, and metallurgy. Of these crafts, only pottery-making is primarily a female activity; the others are restricted to male specialists. Even in the case of pottery-making, only men are allowed to fashion pots or pipes representing anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figures.