Dugda (woreda) - Overview

Overview

The altitude of this woreda ranges from 1500 to 2300 meters above sea level; Mount Bora Mariam (2007 meters) is the highest point. Rivers include the Meki. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 36.9% is arable or cultivable, 8.7% pasture, 9.6% forest, 0.4% swampy and the remaining 44.3% is considered degraded or otherwise unusable. Fruits and vegetables are important cash crops.

Industry in the woreda includes 11 licensed mines, 32 small industries employing 54 people (94% of which performed food processing), as well as 707 registered businesses including 108 wholesalers, 404 retailers and 195 service providers. There were 54 Farmers Associations with 18,946 members and 2 Farmers Service Cooperatives with 2226 members. Dugda Bora has 85 kilometers of dry-weather and 122 of all-weather road, for an average road density of 142 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 67% of the rural, 100% of the urban and 74% of the total population has access to drinking water.

In late August 2005, the Awash and Meki rivers burst their banks due to heavy rains and flooded Dugda Bora. According to reports, up to 7,000 people were made homeless, one person was killed, many livestock were swept away and more than 814 hectares of farmland was destroyed. It was also reported that up to 3,400 of those displaced were stranded by the floodwaters, and authorities rescued 455 people.

Read more about this topic:  Dugda (woreda)