Tiro Afeta

Tiro Afeta is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Jimma Zone, Tiro Afeta is bordered on the south by Omo Nada, on the west by Kersa, on the north by Limmu Kosa, and on the east by Sokoru. The capital of the woreda is Dimtu.

The altitude of this woreda ranges from 1640 to 2800 meters above sea level; mountains include Geshe, Haro, Gebera and Hako Albiti. Perennial rivers include the Gilgel Gibe, Busa, Nedi and Aleltu. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 26% is arable or cultivable (20.5% was under annual crops), 8.3% pasture, 14% forest, and the remaining 51.7% is considered built-up, degraded or otherwise unusable. Forest land includes the Gesha forest, part of the Tiro Becho State Forest. Teff and corn are important cash crops. [ [http://oromiagov.org/Socio%20Economic%20Profile/Djimma%20Zone/Djimma%20Zone.pdf "Socio-economic profile of the Djimma (sic) Zone"] Government of Oromia Region (last accessed 1 August 2006).] . Although coffee is another important cash crop of this woreda, less than 20 km² is planted with this crop. [ [http://www.oromiacoffeeunion.org/production.htm "Coffee Production"] Oromia Coffee Cooperative Union website]

Industry in the woreda includes 52 grain mills. There were 25 Farmers Associations with 11,010 members and 7 Farmers Service Cooperatives with 7,283 members. Tiro Afeta has 34 kilometers of dry-weather road, for an average road density of 34.9 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 71.5% of the urban and 9.8% of the rural population has access to drinking water. [Government of Oromia Region, "Socio-economic profile."]

Population

Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 130,554, of whom 66,732 were males and 63,822 were females; 2,328 or 1.78% of its population are urban dwellers, which is less than the Zone average of 12.3%. With an estimated area of 973.91 square kilometers, Tiro Afeta has an estimated population density of 134.1 people per square kilometer, which is less than the Zone average of 150.6. [ [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] , Tables B.3 and B.4]

Although the predominant ethnic group of Dedo is the Oromo people, the Yem people people are a significant minority. According to one source, in the early 1990s 42,600 members of this ethnic group lived in 17 kebeles of this woreda. [ [http://www.sil.org/silesr/abstract.asp?ref=2002-052 Aklilu Yilma, "Pilot Survey of Bilingualism in Yem"] SILESR 2002-052, p.5 (accessed 1 June 2006)]

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