Guba Lafto

Guba Lafto is one of the woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Semien Wollo Zone, Guba Lafto is bordered on the south by the Debub Wollo Zone, on the west by Delanta and Wadla, on the northwest by Meket, on the north by Gidan, on the northeast by the Logiya River which separates it from Kobo, and on the southeast by Habru. Weldiya is an enclave inside this woreda. Towns in this woreda include Hara.

Guba Lafto
Woreda
Flag
Zone	Semien Wollo
Region	Amhara Region
Area [1]
• Total	900.49 km^2 (347.68 sq mi)
Population  (2012 est.)
• Total	151,308

Overview

Guba Lafto, as well as the other seven rural woredas of this Zone, has been grouped amongst the 48 woredas identified as the most drought prone and food insecure in the Amhara Region.[2] To combat increasing droughts and improve crop yields, two irrigation projects have been undertaken in this woreda by the Commission for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Rehabilitation in the Amhara Region and the NGO Lutheran World Federation, affecting 560 hectares and benefiting 2,489 households.[3]

Guba Lafto has a mountainous landscape, with its ranging from 1300 to 3900 meters above sea level.[4] Soil erosion is marked by ever-expanding gullies. Increasing population has led to shrinking farm and grazing areas. Declining soil fertility, increased incidence of crop pests and weeds, along with cultural attitudes have made Guba Lafto as one of the food insecure woredas of the Amhara Region.[5] To help combat this, the AMAREW project helped inhabitants of kebeles located in the Lenche Dima watershed to create micro-enterprises to manufacture gabion wire boxes. Produced at a third of the cost they can be purchased at Debre Tabor, these gabions are used to fight gully formation.[6]

Demographics

Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 139,825, an increase of 0.48% over the 1994 census, of whom 70,750 are men and 69,075 women; 4,886 or 3.49% are urban inhabitants. With an area of 900.49 square kilometers, Guba Lafto has a population density of 155.28, which is greater than the Zone average of 123.25 persons per square kilometer. A total of 33,676 households were counted in this woreda, resulting in an average of 4.15 persons to a household, and 32,824 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 86.58% reporting that as their religion, while 13.32% of the population said they were Muslim.[7]

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 139,151 in 34,716 households, of whom 69,975 were men and 69,176 were women; none of its population were reported to be urban dwellers. The largest ethnic group reported in Guba Lafto was the Amhara (99.92%). Amharic was spoken as a first language by 99.94%. The majority of the population was reported to practice Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity with 57% professing that belief, while 43% of the population said they were Muslim.[8]

Notes

1. Geohive: Ethiopia Archived 2012-08-05 at the Wayback Machine
2. Seid Yassin, "Small-Scale Irrigation and Household Food Security: A Case Study of Three Irrigation Schemes in Gubalafto Woreda of North Wollo Zone, Amhara Region" Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, Master's Thesis, Graduate School of the University of Addis Ababa (June 2002), p. 35
3. Seid Yassin, "Small-Scale Irrigation", p. 42
4. Svein Ege, "North Wälo 1:100,000. Topographic and administrative map of North Wälo Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia" Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine. Trondheim, NTNU, 2002
5. "AMAREW 2005 extension plan" Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, p. 3 (accessed 15 April 2009)
6. "Gabion Wire Box Production at Lenche Dima Watershed - Empowering Farmers Locally", AMAREW website (accessed 15 April 2009)
7. Census 2007 Tables: Amhara Region Archived 2010-11-14 at the Wayback Machine, Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.
8. 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Amhara Region, Vol. 1, part 1 Archived 2010-11-15 at the Wayback Machine, Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.10, 2.13, 2.17, Annex II.2 (accessed 9 April 2009)