Humbo

Humbo is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Wolayita Zone located in the Great Rift Valley, Humbo is bordered on the southeast by Lake Abaya which separates it from the Oromia Region, on the south by the Gamo Gofa Zone, on the west by Offa, on the northwest by Sodo Zuria, on the northeast by Damot Weyde, and on the east by the Bilate River which separates it from the Sidama Zone. The administrative center of Humbo is Tebela.

According to a 2004 report, Humbo had 25 kilometers of asphalt roads, 24 kilometers of all-weather roads and 51 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 118 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers.^[1]

History

Humbo was selected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2003 as an area for voluntary resettlement for farmers from overpopulated areas, becoming the new home for 658 heads of households.^[2] This included 618 heads of households selected from overpopulated parts of Humbo, Boloso Sore, Kindo Koysha, Sodo Zuria, Damot Weyde, and Damot Gale who were resettled at a new village at the southeastern part of the woreda near Lake Abaya, beginning in May.^[3]

Two kebeles in Humbo were flooded after the Bilate burst its banks between 24 and 30 April 2005. According to unconfirmed field reports the flood killed two people and displaced 6,755, of whom 965 were from resettlement sites. The flooding also damaged 1,017 hectares of crop land and killed numerous livestock.^[4] In August of the next year flooding in Humbo displaced 6,000 inhabitants but without causing either loss of life or damage to the crops.^[5]

The World Bank approved funding November 2007 for a project sponsored by World Vision Ethiopia to restore forest to 3,000 to 4,000 hectares in Humbo and 1,000 to 2,000 hectares in Soddo Zuria using native species, a program which would be funded with funds from carbon offset purchases.^[6]

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this woreda has a total population of 125,441, of whom 63,017 are men and 62,424 women; 6,247 or 4.98% of its population are urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants were Protestants, with 87.15% of the population reporting that belief, 7.87% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 4.07% were Catholic. ^[7]

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 96,642 of whom 48,339 were men and 48,303 were women; 2,764 or 2.86% of its population were urban dwellers. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Humbo were the Welayta (96.33%), the Amhara (1.28%), and the Sidama (0.86%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.53% of the population. Welayta is spoken as a first language by 96.8%, 1.5% Amharic, 0.88% speak Sidamo; the remaining 0.82% spoke all other primary languages reported. ^[8]

Notes

1. "Detailed statistics on roads", SNNPR Bureau of Finance and Economic Development website (accessed 15 September 2009)
2. "Resettlement 2003", Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA) (accessed 26 November 2006)
3. "Resettlement as a Response to Food Insecurity", UN-EUE Report May/June 2003 (accessed 19 February 2009)
4. "Relief Bulletin: 9 May 2005", UN-OCHA-Ethiopia (accessed 26 February 2009)
5. "OCHA Situation Report No. 3 Floods – Ethiopia (Draft)", UN-OCHA (accessed 8 February 2009)
6. "Ethiopia - Humbo and Soddo Community-Based Natural Regeneration Project", World Bank website (accessed 3 March 2009)
7. Census 2007 Tables: Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, Tables 2.1, and 3.4.
8. 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)

Coordinates: 6°40′N 37°50′E / 6.667°N 37.833°E