Agaro is a town in southwestern Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, and the administrative center of Gomma

Gomma (woreda)

Gomma is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the former Kingdom of Gomma, whose territory was roughly the same as the modern woreda...

 woreda

Woreda

Woreda is an administrative division of Ethiopia , equivalent to a district . Woredas are composed of a number of Kebele, or neighborhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia...

. Located in the Jimma Zone

Jimma Zone

Jimma is one of the 17 Zones of the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. Jimma is named for the former Kingdom of Jimma, which was absorbed into the former province of Kaffa in 1932...

 of the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...

, it has a latitude and longitude of 7°51′N 36°35′E, and an elevation of 1560 meters above sea level.

Overview

The road that originally connected Agaro to Jimma was "better known for its depth than for its length" until improvements were completed in 1962. The road to Bedele

Bedele

Bedele is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Illubabor Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a longitude and latitude of and an elevation between above sea level. It is the larger of two towns in Bedele woreda....

, 96 km long, was completed in 1968 at a cost of 12 million dollars (Ethiopian)

Ethiopian birr

The birr is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. Before 1976, dollar was the official English translation of birr. Today, it is officially birr in English as well....

, by the French company Razel Frères. Agaro is one of the most important trading centers of coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 in Ethiopia. The Jimma Institute of Public Health (part of Jimma University

Jimma University

Jimma University is one of the top teaching universities in Ethiopia, and is located in Oromia Region, Jimma Zone. It offers programs and researches which lead toward degrees in different fields of studies. It was established in December 1999 with the amalgamation of the Jimma College of...

) operates a teaching center for health care in Agaro.

Agaro was the capital of the former Kingdom of Gomma

Kingdom of Gomma

The Kingdom of Gomma was one of the kingdoms in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 18th century. It shared its northern border with Limmu-Ennarea, its western border with Gumma, its southern border with Gera, and its eastern border with Jimma...

, until Gomma was conquered by Dejazmach Besha Abuye in 1886. By 1958 Agaro was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as a First Class Township. Fitawrari Gebre Kristos, started coffee plantations in the 1950s on land he inherited from his grandfather Fitawrari Wossen. Fitawrari Besha could employ up to 400 workers during high harvest season. After the Ethiopian revolution, Gebre Kristos abandoned his plantation and retired to Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

; his plantation was nationalized by the Land Nationalization Proclamation of March 1975.

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency

Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)

The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...

in 2005, Agaro has an estimated total population of 41,616 of whom 21,549 are men and 20,067 are women. The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 23,246 of whom 11,687 were men and 11,559 were women.