Halaba is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the Halaba people, and covers part of their homeland. Located in the Great Rift Valley, Halaba zone is bordered on the south by an

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

of Hadiya Zone, on the southwest by the Kembata Tembaro Zone, on the west and north by Hadiya Zone, on the north east by Lake Shala, and on the east by Oromia Region; the Bilate River, which is its major body of water, defines its western boundary. The administrative center is Halaba Kulito.

Overview

Except for the portion that slopes down to the edge of Lake Shala, the elevation of this Zone ranges from 1700 to 2200 meters above sea level. High points include Mount Bubisa. The climate is characterized as temperate or locally called ''woinadega'', the mean annual temperature is about 17.6 - 22.5 C and the mean annual rainfall falls between 601-1200mm."Critical Emergency Situation in Kambaata - Tambaaro Zone and Halaba Zone"
UN-OCHA Report June 2003 (accessed 19 February 2009) However, due to a long history of agriculture and population pressure, plant cover is minimal with only a few scattered trees, and the southern end of Halaba has numerous gullies, which have carried off much of the topsoil. Numerous attempts have been made in the last two decades of the 20th century to rehabilitate the land have been unsuccessful. Combined with an erratic rainfall, these factors prevent the inhabitants of this Zone from growing enough food to feed themselves."Halaba Pilot Learning Site Diagnosis and Program Design"
IPMS Information Resources Portal - Ethiopia (15 July 2005), pp. 9-13 (accessed 12 March 2009) The economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture in the form of

dryland farming Dryland farming and dry farming encompass specific agricultural techniques for the non-irrigated cultivation of crops. Dryland farming is associated with drylands, areas characterized by a cool wet season (which charges the soil with virtually ...

and raising livestock, with some apiculture. The main cash crops include pepper, maize, teff,

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...

, haricot beans and wheat. Halaba has 16 kilometers of asphalt roads, 15 kilometers of all-weather roads and 96 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 130 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. One micro-finance institution operates in Alaba, the

Omo Microfinance Institution SC Omo or OMO may refer to: Geography Ethiopia * Omo River (Ethiopia), in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin and namesake for all the topics below * Omo Nada, one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia * ...

(OMFI), established in 1997. OMFI, with three branch offices in Durame and a sub-branch in Halaba Kulito, has 945 clients in this woreda.

History

Originally Halaba Zone was a normal woreda of the ''Kembata, Halaba and Tembaro Zone'', but in 2002 it was separated off to become a special woreda. Halaba endured an extremely heavy

hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

storm on 27 August 2005, which was accompanied by local flooding. Eleven people were killed by the hailstones while two were drowned in the flooding; several livestock were also killed. Damage included up to 2,555 hectares of crops, and the roofs of many houses.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 232,325, of whom 117,291 are men and 115,034 women. With an area of 994.66 square kilometers, Halaba has a population density of 233.57; 26,867 or 11.56% are urban inhabitants. A total of 49,028 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.74 persons to a household, and 47,205 housing units. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 187,034 in 23,627 households, of whom 93,194 were men and 93,840 were women; 16,723 or 8.94% of its population were urban dwellers. The five largest ethnic groups reported in Alaba were the namesake Halaba (63.07%), the Silte (23.01%), the Kambaata (6.36%), the Amhara (3.13%) and the Hadiya (1.58%); all other ethnic groups made up 2.85% of the population. Alaba is spoken as a first language by 53.88%, 32.48% speak Silte, 5.77% Kambaata, 5.13%

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

, and 1.27% speak Hadiya; the remaining 1.57% spoke all other primary languages reported. 93.84% of the population said they were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, 4.62% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 1.2% were

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
Tables 2.1, 2.12, 2.15, 2.19, 11.1, 11.3 (accessed 30 December 2008)

References

Literature

* {{Districts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region Districts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region Ethiopia Cities and towns in Ethiopia