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Oromia State Govt.

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Our SNNPR State

• Map

• Political Situation

• Social Situation

• Economic Situation

• Landscape, Climatic and Infrastructure Situation

Map

(From BBC website; http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

Political Situation

The Southern Nations Nationalities and Regional State , SNNPRS, is one of the nine regions that form the federal state of the country. The region is located in the southern and south western part of Ethiopia . It Borders Kenya in the south, the Sudan Republic in the southwest, Gambella region in the Northwest and Oromiya Region in the Northeast. The regional capital is Awassa which is about 275km from Addis Abeba, the capital city of Ethiopia . The Region is divided into 13 zones and 133 Woredas that include 8 special Woredas. More than 56 nations, nationalities and peoples live in the region.

The regional state has established different bureaus to implement development policies, and strategies according to the context of the region. Accordingly the region has specified the common role and responsibilities of the line offices in the zones, special Woredas, Woredas and Kebeles.

The regional government has decentralized the structure for effective and efficient service delivery down to the worked. The decentralization has enabled the lower level structures to have better human power and also budget for implementation of its own plan. This will reduce the poverty in the region and also the food insecurity.

Social Situation

According to the 1994 census, the projected population of the region in 2002 was 14.9 million and 92% of this population lives in rural area and the remaining 8% lives in urban area. This means 20% of the country's population lives in the region and 50.1% of the population is female. The yearly average population growth of the region is 2.9%. From the total population, 49.1% is productive (15-64 years old) and from the productive population about 2.3 million are farmers and pastoralists (22%). The dependency level in the region is 96.5%. Average family size in the region is 5 persons per household. The average population density in the region is 117 people per square kilometer, the highest density is in Gedeo zone (536person/km 2 ) and the lowest is in Omo zone (18person/km 2 ).

Data on the social services of the region shows that there are about 2426 elementary schools, 91 high schools, 9 technical and vocational schools, 4 teachers training institutes, 2 universities under the government. By 2002/3 (1995E.C) there were about 17 colleges, 11 teachers training institutes, 27 kindergarten, elementary and high schools under the private sector. In the health sector, there are 14 hospitals, 115 health centers, 366 health posts, 341 clinics by 2002/3 (1995E.C). The total number of professionals in the health institutes are 257 doctors, 544 nurses, 133 sanitarians, 146 laboratory technicians and 1547 junior nurses. Vaccination coverage of the children in the region is 57% and mortality rate is 107 per 1000 children born. Under five years mortality rate in the region is 157. The national child mortality rate and under five mortality is 97 and 166 respectively. The 2002/3 (1995E.C) report shows that the health coverage in the region has reached to 50% of the population.

Recurrent drought, low soil fertility, natural resources degradation and desertification have caused reduced production and productivity which coupled with the high population pressure has resulted in migration to towns. This migration has increased the unemployment rate in the towns.

The yearly per capita income in the region according to the 2003/4 (1996E.C) data is estimated birr 800 and daily calorie is 1880. The region's population that lives below poverty line is estimated to be 56.5%.

Economic Situation

The area of the region is 113.5, 000 sq. km which is 10% of the country. From this 23.8% is cultivated, 13.3% cultivable but not yet cultivated, 20% grazing land, 17.3% covered with forest and shrubs and the remaining 25.6% is covered with other vegetation.

The region has suitable climate, soil type, and land suitable for agriculture. The irrigable land potential of the region is estimated to be about 400,000ha. From the total potential only 10% is currently being utilized through the efforts of government, non governmental organization, private investors and traditionally by the community. There are two cropping seasons in the region: Meher and Belg. Forty percent of the production is in Belg season and the remaining 60% are in the Meher season. The major agricultural food crops in the region are Enset, Maize, Root crops, Wheat and Teff and they constitute 27%, 24 .6 %, 17%, 7.9% and 6.4 % respectively. The Region is also known for production of export commodities such as coffee, hides and skins. The majority of the farming community of the region practice mixed farming. Livestock rearing is practiced by the pastoralist communities. 20% of the total livestock population of the country is found in the region. Therefore, the hide and skin production and export in the region is of high economic importance. The private sector is also involved in the agricultural activity in the region and the number is increasing from time to time. The private investors are involved in producing commodities like food, raw materials for factory, and exportable crops which includes cotton, vegetables and fruits. They are also involved in producing, processing and exporting coffee.

There are seven conserved forest areas in the region (Dawaro, Gamo Gofa, Keffa, Sheka, Bench Maji and Derashe) which generate income. The total area of the region covered by forest is about 11%. There are also different tourist attraction sites, historical places, and five national parks (Mago, Nechi Sar, Omo, Maze, Chebera and Churchura) in the region. The region hosts 16% of the national parks, 18% of preserved forest and 66% of controlled forest of the country's resources. Different tourists and paleontologists visit the region to see the crocodile ranch, conserved forests and lower Omo valley paleontology pre history places and stones. The different eating and clothing habit of the region is also one tourist attraction in addition to the above.

The region has three major rift valley lakes (Awassa, Abaya and Chamo) which covers a total area of 1840km 2 and can be used for recreation, transport and fishery. There are also nine perennial rivers and many hot springs in the region. However the effort made to use these water resources for irrigation, mini hydropower, drinking water etc. is not significant. Moreover the region have 29 rivers and water falls which have potential to produce 77MW electric power but only 128KW (0.2%) is generated. Minerals like gold, iron, base metal and industrial materials are also found in the region but they are not efficiently exploited to generate income.

In general, although the region has a huge natural resource potential, people are not optimally benefiting and they are facing drought and food shortage due to many economic and social problems.

Landscape, Climatic and Infrastructure Situation

The Region is situated in the south western part of Ethiopia between 4 0 27' – 8 0 30' N latitude and 34 0 21' – 39 0 11' E longitude. The altitude of the region varies from 376 to 4207 masl and the yearly average rainfall ranges from 400-2200 mm. The mean annual temperature ranges from 12 0 c to 35 0 c.

The infrastructure facility of the region is relatively very limited and inadequate. Currently the region has 425km long asphalt roads, 4907 km gravel roads and 2488 km dry weather roads.

The drinking water supply coverage of the region has risen to 48% (2004 data) through the efforts of government and non government organizations and funding organizations. This shows that about 60% of the population has no access for safe water. Statistics show that more than 80% of the diseases are related with lack of safe water. The distribution of the water supply facilities vary in the urban and rural areas. Only 45% of the rural populations have access for safe water and on the other hand 60% of the urban populations have access for safe water. From 6007 water projects built in the region about 22% are not functional.

(E.C. stands for Ethiopian Calendar, i.e., year 2007 in Europian calendar is equivalent to year 2000 in Ethiopian calendar.)