Bedele Zuria

Bedele Zuria is one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Illubabor Zone, Bedele Zuria is bordered on the south by Gechi, on the southwest by Chora, on the west by Dega, on the north by the southern exclave of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, on the northeast by the Didessa River which separates it from the Misraq Welega Zone, and on the southeast by Gechi. Towns in Bedele Zuria include Bedele. Bedele Zuria, Chewaka, Dabo Hana woredas and Bedele town were part of former Bedele woreda.

Overview

Coffee is an important cash crop of this woreda, where over 50 square kilometers are planted with this crop. Another important crop is tea; in 1995 East African Agri-Business (a subsidiary of East African Group (Ethiopia)) founded a tea plantation covering 870 hectares at Chewaka, about 90 kilometers northwest of the town of Bedele, with an initial investment of 87 million Birr. Other local industry includes the Bedele brewery.

Bedele

Bedele (also called Buno Bedele) is a town and separate woreda in south-western Ethiopia. Located in the Illubabor Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a longitude and latitude of 8°27′N 36°21′E / 8.450°N 36.350°E / 8.450; 36.350 and an elevation between 2,012–2,162 metres (6,601–7,093 ft) above sea level.

History

Ras Tessema Nadew made his capital near Bedele in the early 1900s. Henry Savage Landor passed through the town in 1906. The map attached to C. W. Gwynn's account of his 1908/09 triangulation survey of southern Ethiopia shows that Bedele had a telegraph station, connected by way of Gore. The Buno Bedele Health Center was built in 1966 with a majority of Swedish donations.

The road connecting Bedele to Agaro, 96 kilometres (60 mi) long, was completed in 1968 at a cost of 12 million dollars (Ethiopian), by the French company Razel Frères. Construction on a road to Metu began around 1970.

Bedele is also the headquarters for the Bedele Brewery. Founded in 1993, Bedele is a formerly government-owned corporation, producing about 75 million bottles of beer each year for domestic and export customers; it was bought by Heineken in August 2011.