Ada'a Chukala is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia.[1] Part of the Debub Misraq (Southwest) Shewa Zone located in the Great Rift Valley, Ada'a Chukala is bordered on the south by Dugda Bora, on the west by the Mirab Shewa Zone, on the northwest by Akaki, on the northeast by Gimbichu, and on the east by Lome. The administrative center is Debre Zeit; other towns in Ada'a Chukala include Adulala.
Altitudes in this woreda range from 1500 to over 2000 meters above sea level.[2] Although the highest point in Ada'a Chukala, and in Misraq Shewa, is Mount Yerer which lies on the border with Akaki, Mount Zuqualla is also a prominent peak as well as a notable landmark, as the monastery of Saint Gebre Manfas Qeddus is located on it. Rivers include the Modjo, Belbela, Wedecha and Dukem. Other bodies of water include the five crater lakes around Debre Zeyit: Lake Bishoftu, Lake Hora, Lake Bishoftu Guda, Lake Koriftu and the seasonal Lake Cheleklaka. Important forests include the government-protected Dirre-Garbicha and the Tedecha and Oude community forests. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 51% is arable or cultivable, 6.4% pasture, 7.4% in community, regional and natural forests, and the remaining 34.8% is considered degraded or otherwise unusable. Legumes and sugar cane are important cash crops; Ada'a Chukala produces the most teff, wheat and legumes in Misraq Shewa.[3]
Industry in the woreda includes 8 licensed mining enterprises, both private and state-owned, two flour mills (one publicly owned, the other privatized in 1996), 26 small industries that employed 327 people, as well as 202 wholesalers, 172 retailers and 12 service providers. There were 42 Farmers Associations with 26,525 members and 26 Farmers Service Cooperatives.[3] All of the farmers' cooperatives are member of the Erer Farmers' Cooperative Union, which includes cooperatives from two other woredas. The major micro-finance institution operating in Ada'a Chukala is the Oromiyaa Credit and Saving SC, which opened a branch in Debre Zeit around 2001; however the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia extends credit to the cooperatives to market their grain.[2] Ada'a Chukala has 40 kilometers of dry-weather and 93 of all-weather road, for an average road density of 81.3 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 27% of the rural, 100% of the urban and 52% of the total population has access to drinking water.[3]
Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 355,343, of whom 175,788 are men and 179,555 are women; 142,866 or 40.21% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 32.1%. With an estimated area of 1,635.16 square kilometers, Ada'a Chukala has an estimated population density of 217.3 people per square kilometer, which is greater than the Zone average of 181.7.[4]
The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 234,614, of whom 118,188 were men and 116,426 women; 79,931 or 34.07% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. The five largest ethnic groups reported in Ada'a Chukala were the Oromo (69.64%), the Amhara (23.84%), the Sebat Bet Gurage (1.64%), the Tigray (1.3%), and the Soddo Gurage (1.29%); all other ethnic groups made up 2.29% of the population. Oromiffa was spoken as a first language by 63.37%, 33.86% spoke Amharic, and 0.89% spoke Tigrinya; the remaining 1.88% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants were Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 95.23% of the population reporting they practiced that belief, while 2.63% of the population said they practiced traditional beliefs, 2.57% were Protestant, and 1.33% were Moslem.[5]
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