Arero

Arero is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Borena Zone, Arero is bordered on the southwest by Dire, on the west by Yabelo, on the north by Hagere Mariam, on the northeast by Odo Shakiso, on the east by Liben, and on the southeast by Moyale; the Dawa River, the only river in this woreda, separate Arero from Odo Shakiso and Liben. Towns in Arero include Meta Gefersa.

The altitude of this woreda ranges from 750 to 1700 meters above sea level. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 20% is arable (1.7% was under cultivation), 40.3% pasture, 1.6% forest, and the remaining 38.1% is considered swampy, mountainous or otherwise unusable. The forested area includes Arero State Forest. Teff, corn, haricot bean and wheat are important crops. [ [http://oromiagov.org/Socio%20Economic%20Profile/Borena/Borena.pdf "Socio-economic profile of the Borena Zone"] Government of Oromia Region (last accessed 1 August 2006).] .

Industry in the woreda includes 2 grain mills; deposits of gold, molybdenum, cobalt and graphite are present but have not been commercially developed. There were 11 Farmers Associations with 7624 members and 4 Farmers Service Cooperatives; about 40% of the farmers are pastoralists. Arero has 260 kilometers of dry-weather, for an average road density of 24 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 33.8% of the urban and 12.5% of the rural population has access to drinking water. [Government of Oromia Region, "Socio-economic profile."]

Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 44,020, of whom 21,679 were males and 22,341 were females; 7,338 or 16.67% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 11.6%. With an estimated area of 10,841.88 square kilometers, Arero has an estimated population density of 4.1 people per square kilometer, which is less than the Zone average of 21.1. [ [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] , Tables B.3 and B.4]

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