Gedeo Zone
Encyclopedia
Gedeo is a Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia
. This Zone is named for the Gedeo people
, whose homelands lie in this zone. Gedeo extends south as a narrow strip of land along the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian Highlands
into the Oromia Region
, which borders the Zone on the east, south and west; Gedeo shares its northern boundary with Sidama
. Dila
is the administrative center; other towns include Yirgachefe.
to an elevation of 2993 meters at Haro Wolabu Pond. Gedeo has 215 kilometers of all-weather roads and 54 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 199 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers.
The Central Statistical Agency
(CSA) reported that 63,562 tons of coffee
were produced in Sidama and Gideo combined in the year ending in 2005, based on inspection records from the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea authority. This represents 63% of the SNNPR's output and 28% of Ethiopia's total output. On 28 July 2009, the Zonal agriculture and rural development coordination department in Dila reported that over 359.2 million Birr
of coffee had been produced by farmers in the Gedeo Zone over the course of the year.
of Ethiopia reports this Zone has a total population of 847,434, of whom 424,742 are men and 422,692 women; with an area of 1,210.89 square kilometers, Gedeo has a population density of 699.84. While 107,781 or 12.72% are urban inhabitants, a further 39 individuals are pastoralists. A total of 179,677 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.72 persons to a household, and 172,782 housing units.
In the 1994 Census, Gedeo had a population of 564,073 in 124,874 households, of whom 282,595 were men and 281,478 women; 65,374 or 11.59% of its population were urban dwellers. The five largest ethnic groups reported in this Zone were the Gedeo (81.21%), the Oromo
(8.33%), the Amhara
(4.35%), the Sidama
(1.15%) and the Silt'e
(1.11%); all other ethnic groups made up 3.85% of the population. Gedeo
is spoken as a first language by 81.45%, 7.79% speak Oromiffa
, 7.64% Amharic
, and 1.1% speak Sidamo
; the remaining 2.02% spoke all other primary languages reported. A plurality of the inhabitants said they were Protestants
, with 43.24% of the population reporting answers in that category, while 24.57% observed traditional religions, 22.1% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 2.84% embraced Catholicism
, and 2.77% were Muslim
.
According to a May 24, 2004 World Bank
memorandum, 11% of the inhabitants of Gedeo have access to electricity, this zone has a road density of 231.7 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers (compared to the national average of 30 kilometers), the average rural household has 0.3 hectare of land (compared to the national average of 1.01 hectare of land and an average of 0.89 for the SNNPR) and the equivalent of 0.2 heads of livestock. 19.6% of the population is in non-farm related jobs, compared to the national average of 25% and a Regional average of 32%. 65% of all eligible children are enrolled in primary school, and 17% in secondary schools. 40% of the zone is exposed to malaria
, and 37% to Tsetse fly
. The memorandum gave this zone a drought risk rating of 342.
Woreda
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...
. This Zone is named for the Gedeo people
Gedeo people
The Gedeo are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. The Gedeo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region is named for this people...
, whose homelands lie in this zone. Gedeo extends south as a narrow strip of land along the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian Highlands
Ethiopian Highlands
The Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, Eritrea , and northern Somalia in the Horn of Africa...
into the Oromia Region
Oromia Region
Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...
, which borders the Zone on the east, south and west; Gedeo shares its northern boundary with Sidama
Sidama Zone
Sidama is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . It is named for the Sidama people, whose homeland is located in this zone...
. Dila
Dila, Ethiopia
Dilla is a market town in southern Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Gedeo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region , and located on the main road from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, this town has a longitude and latitude of with an elevation of 1570 meters above sea...
is the administrative center; other towns include Yirgachefe.
Overview
The altitude of the Zone ranges from 1268 meters above sea level in the vicinity of Lake AbayaLake Abaya
Lake Abaya is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. It was named Lake Margherita by the Italian explorer Vittorio Bottego, the first European commonly thought to visit the lake, to honor the wife of king Umberto I of Italy, Queen Margherita...
to an elevation of 2993 meters at Haro Wolabu Pond. Gedeo has 215 kilometers of all-weather roads and 54 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 199 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers.
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...
(CSA) reported that 63,562 tons of coffee
Coffee production in Ethiopia
The coffee production in Ethiopia is critical to the Ethiopian economy with about 25% of the population depending directly or indirectly on coffee for its livelihood...
were produced in Sidama and Gideo combined in the year ending in 2005, based on inspection records from the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea authority. This represents 63% of the SNNPR's output and 28% of Ethiopia's total output. On 28 July 2009, the Zonal agriculture and rural development coordination department in Dila reported that over 359.2 million Birr
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....
of coffee had been produced by farmers in the Gedeo Zone over the course of the year.
Demographics
The 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical AgencyCentral 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...
of Ethiopia reports this Zone has a total population of 847,434, of whom 424,742 are men and 422,692 women; with an area of 1,210.89 square kilometers, Gedeo has a population density of 699.84. While 107,781 or 12.72% are urban inhabitants, a further 39 individuals are pastoralists. A total of 179,677 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.72 persons to a household, and 172,782 housing units.
In the 1994 Census, Gedeo had a population of 564,073 in 124,874 households, of whom 282,595 were men and 281,478 women; 65,374 or 11.59% of its population were urban dwellers. The five largest ethnic groups reported in this Zone were the Gedeo (81.21%), the Oromo
Oromo people
The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...
(8.33%), the Amhara
Amhara people
Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...
(4.35%), the Sidama
Sidama people
The Sidama people of southern Ethiopia are an ethnic group whose homeland is in the Sidama Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. They number 2,966,474 of whom 149,480 are urban inhabitants, the fifth most populous nation in Ethiopia...
(1.15%) and the Silt'e
Silt'e people
The Silt'e people are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. They inhabit today's Silt'e Zone which is part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. A considerable number of Silt'e live in Addis Ababa, Adama and other cities and smaller urban centres of southern Ethiopia where...
(1.11%); all other ethnic groups made up 3.85% of the population. Gedeo
Gedeo language
Gedeo is the name of a Highland East Cushitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family spoken in south central Ethiopia. Alternate names for the language include Derasa, Deresa, Darassa, Geddeo, Derasanya, Darasa. It is spoken by the Gedeo people, who live in the highland area, southwest of Dila and...
is spoken as a first language by 81.45%, 7.79% speak Oromiffa
Oromo language
Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...
, 7.64% Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
, and 1.1% speak Sidamo
Sidamo language
Sidamo is an Afro-Asiatic language, belonging to the Cushitic branch, part of the Highland East Cushitic group. It is spoken in parts of southern Ethiopia....
; the remaining 2.02% spoke all other primary languages reported. A plurality of the inhabitants said they were Protestants
P'ent'ay
P'ent'ay or Pentay is a slang term widely used in modern Ethiopia, and among Ethiopians living abroad, to describe Ethiopian Christians who are not members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo, Ethiopian Orthodox Tehadeso, Roman Catholic or Ethiopian Catholic churches...
, with 43.24% of the population reporting answers in that category, while 24.57% observed traditional religions, 22.1% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 2.84% embraced Catholicism
Roman Catholicism in Ethiopia
The Catholic Church in Ethiopia is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.The Ethiopian Catholic Church, the primary organization of Catholicism in the country, is especially close to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, whose doctrine and...
, and 2.77% were Muslim
Islam in Ethiopia
According to the latest 2007 national census, Islam is the second most widely practised religion in Ethiopia after Christianity, with over 25 million of Ethiopians adhering to Islam according to the 2007 national census, having arrived in Ethiopia in 615...
.
According to a May 24, 2004 World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
memorandum, 11% of the inhabitants of Gedeo have access to electricity, this zone has a road density of 231.7 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers (compared to the national average of 30 kilometers), the average rural household has 0.3 hectare of land (compared to the national average of 1.01 hectare of land and an average of 0.89 for the SNNPR) and the equivalent of 0.2 heads of livestock. 19.6% of the population is in non-farm related jobs, compared to the national average of 25% and a Regional average of 32%. 65% of all eligible children are enrolled in primary school, and 17% in secondary schools. 40% of the zone is exposed to malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, and 37% to Tsetse fly
Tsetse fly
Tsetse , sometimes spelled tzetze and also known as tik-tik flies, are large biting flies that inhabit much of mid-continental Africa between the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts. They live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals and are the primary biological vectors of trypanosomes, which...
. The memorandum gave this zone a drought risk rating of 342.
WoredaWoredaWoreda 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...
s
- BuleBule (woreda)Bule is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia, named after its major town, Bule. Part of the Gedeo Zone, Bule is bordered on the south by Kochere, on the west by Yirgachefe, on the northwest by Wenago, and on the east by the Oromia Region.Most...
- KochereKochereKochere is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Gedeo Zone, Kochere is bordered on the east, south and west by the Oromia Region, on the north by Yirgachefe, and on the northeast by Bule...
- WenagoWenago (woreda)Wenago is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Gedeo Zone, Wenago is bordered on the south by Yirgachefe, on the west by the Oromia Region, on the north by the Sidama Zone, and on the east by Bule...
- YirgachefeYirgachefe (woreda)Yirgachefe is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia, named after its major town Yirgachefe...
External links
- Five thousand years of sustainability? A case study on Gedeo land use. PhD dissertation by Kippie Kanshie, T. May 2002. ISBN 90-804443-6-7, Treemail publishers, 295 pp, 20 pages of color illustrations.