Dire (woreda)

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Dire is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Located in the southern part of the Borena Zone, Dire is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the west by Teltele, on the north by Yabelo, on the northeast by Arero, and on the east by Moyale. Towns in Dire include Mega and Hidi Lola.

The altitude of this woreda ranges from 750 to 1670 meters above sea level; Mount Gamud is the highest point. There are no rivers in this woreda. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 14.3% is arable (7.3% was under cultivation), 47.5% pasture, 17.5% forest, and the remaining 20.7% is considered swampy, degraded or otherwise unusable. Notable landmarks include the Bowe Soda Salt House, the Gumigayo cultural center and the Boke Dilo well. Corn, haricot beans, wheat and barley are important crops.^[1]

Industry in the woreda includes 12 grain mills.^[1] Salt has been traditionally extracted from sites like the mountain craters, such as Sod or Sodiga near Mega, and transported elsewhere in the Borana and south to Banaadir.^[2] However, other known mineral deposits -- olivine and carnet -- have not been commercially developed. There were 31 Farmers Associations and 8 Farmers Service Cooperatives; about 59% of the farmers were pastoralists. Dire has 137 kilometers of dry-weather and 124 all-weather road, for an average road density of 96 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 16.5% of the urban and 33.5% of the total population has access to drinking water.^[1]

Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 122,119, of whom 60,823 were males and 61,296 were females; 15,043 or 12.32% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 11.6%. With an estimated area of 12,721.57 square kilometers, Dire has an estimated population density of 9.6 people per square kilometer, which is less than the Zone average of 21.1.^[3]

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