Basketo special woreda
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Basketo is a
woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of ...
in the
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; am, የደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል, Yädäbub Bḥer Bḥeräsäbočna Hzboč Kllə) is a regional state in southwestern E ...
of
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, named after its inhabitants, the
Basketo people The Basketo people are an Omotic-speaking ethnic group whose homeland lies in the southern part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. The Basketo special woreda is named after this ethnic group. According t ...
. Because Basketo is not part of any administrative Zone in the SNNPR, it is considered a special woreda—an administrative subdivision which is similar to an
autonomous area In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...
.


Settlements

The administrative center is
Laska Lasca (also called Laska or Laskers) is a draughts (or checkers) variant, invented by the second World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker (1868–1941). Lasca is derived from English draughts (American checkers) and the Russian draughts game bashni (T ...
; other rural administrative centres include Donka, Saattsa, Zabba, Mandit, Obc'a, Bunibas, Gaara etc.


Geography

Basketo is bordered in the south and west by the Debub (South) Omo Zone, and in the north and east by the
Gamo Gofa Zone Gaamo Zone is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Gaamo is bordered on the south by the Dirashe special woreda, on the southwest by Debub (South) Omo and the Basketo special woreda, on the northwest by K ...
. Rivers in this woreda include the Berso, Sirso, Sanka, Usino and the Ergino.


Economy

Food crops include enset, sweet potatoes, yams, taro, maize and
horse bean ''Vicia faba'', commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Variet ...
s, while coffee and the cardamom-like spice aframomum corrorima are significant cash crops. According to a 2004 report, Basketo had 27 kilometers of all-weather roads and 180 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 1803 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers.


History

Originally Basketo was part of the Semien (North) Omo Zone, and the 1994 national census counted its inhabitants as part of that Zone. However friction between the various ethnic groups in this Zone, which was often blamed on the Welayta for "ethnic chauvinism" and despite the efforts of the ruling party to emphasize the need to co-ordinate, consolidate, and unify the smaller ethnic units to achieve the "efficient use of scarce government resources", eventually led to the division of the Zone in 2000, and reorganizing Basketo as a special woreda. Basketo was selected by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
in 2004 as one of several woredas for voluntary resettlement for farmers from overpopulated areas, becoming the new home for a total of 7,000 heads of households and 28,000 total family members.


Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the
Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth ...
of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 56,689, of whom 28,532 are men and 28,157 women. With an area of 411.09 square kilometers, Basketo has a population density of 137.90; 5,215 or 9.20% are urban inhabitants. A total of 13,424 households were counted in this woreda, which results in an average of 4.22 persons to a household, and 13,069 housing units. The four largest ethnic groups reported in Basketo were the namesake Basketo people (87.75%), the Wolayta (4.28%), the Amhara (3.73%), and the
Konso Konso (also known as Karati) is a town on the Sagan River in south-western Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Konso special woreda of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and ...
(1.92%); all other ethnic groups made up 2.32% of the population. Basketo is spoken as a first language by 89.06%, 4.18% Wolaytta, 3.09%
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 1.92% speak
Konso Konso (also known as Karati) is a town on the Sagan River in south-western Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Konso special woreda of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and ...
; the remaining 1.75% spoke all other primary languages reported. 64.06% 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 ...
, 30.73% of the population said they were
Ethiopian Orthodox Christians Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts o ...
, 2.13% practiced traditional beliefs, 1.51% embraced
Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, and 1.25% 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 ...
. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 33,672 of whom 16,739 were men and 16,933 were women; 2,191 or 6.51% of its population were urban dwellers. The four largest ethnic groups reported in Basketo were the namesake Basketo people (90.75%), the Amhara (4.04%), the Aari (2.74%), and the Gofa (0.81%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.66% of the population. Basketo is spoken as a first language by 93.2%, 2.94%
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 2.46% speak Aari; the remaining 1.4% spoke all other primary languages reported.''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 (accessed 30 December 2008)


Notes

{{Districts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region Districts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region