Erer is one of the 47 woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Shinile Zone, available maps disagree on its exact location: according to the OCHA map for the Somali Region (copyright 2005), Erer is bordered on the south by the Oromia Region, on the southwest by Afdem, on the west by the Afar Region, on the north by Djibouti, on the northeast by Ayesha, on the east by Shinile and the southeast by the territory of Dire Dawa;[1] however, the map of the Oromia Region published by Disaster Prevention and Disaster Agency (copyright 2006) shows that the western part is separated into its own woreda called Afdem, and the woreda the OCHA map identifies as Afdem should be named Mieso.[2]
Towns in Erer include Asibuli, Ayidora, Erer, and Hurso. The average elevation in this woreda is 824 meters above sea level.[3] As of 2008[update], Erer has neither all-weather gravel roads nor community roads; about 16.51% of the total population has access to drinking water.[4] Notable landmarks include Erer Gota, a rural estate created in 1923 for Ras Tafari by Pastorelli, which featured fruit trees and tropical plants. The track of the Addis Ababa - Djibouti Railway crosses the southern part of this woreda along the lower slopes of the Amhar mountains.
Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 97,957, of whom 45,760 are men and 52,197 are women; 19,171 or 19.6% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 17.6%. Information is not available on the area of Erer, so its density cannot be calculated.[5] This woreda is primarily inhabited by the Issa clan of the Somali people.
The 1997 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 77,960, of whom 42,247 were men and 35,713 were women; 10,637 or 13.64% of its population were urban dwellers. (This total also includes an estimate for the inhabitants of 10 rural kebeles, which were not counted; they were estimated to have 4650 inhabitants, of whom 2630 were men and 2020 women.) The largest ethnic group reported in Erer was the Somali.[6]
A sample enumeration performed by the CSA in 2001 interviewed 2870 farmers in this woreda, who held an average of 0.4 hectares of land. Of the 1143 hectares of private land surveyed, 85.47% was under cultivation, 1.92% pasture, 7.7% fallow, and 4.81% was devoted to other uses; the percentage in woodland was missing. For the land surveyed in this woreda, 57.13% is planted in cereals like teff, sorghum and maize, 1.66% in root crops and 1.14% in vegetables; the number for pulses is missing. Permanent crops included 80 hectares planted in khat, 121 in coffee, and 198.52 in fruit trees. 64.63% of the farmers both raise crops and livestock, while 9.02% only grow crops and 26.34% only raise livestock. Land tenure in this woreda is distributed amongst 93.77% own their land, 2.22% rent, and the remaining 4.01% held their land under other forms of tenure.[7]
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