Ginir

Ginir (also transliterated Ghinnir) is a town in southeastern Ethiopia. Located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region (or kilil), this town has a latitude and longitude of 7°08′N 40°42′E / 7.133°N 40.700°E / 7.133; 40.700 and an elevation between 1750 and 1986 meters above sea level.

Ginir is the administrative center of Ginir woreda. It is served by an airport.

History

In the 19th century, Ginir was the major commercial center southwest of the Awash River. Not only was it where salt was sold to traders who then supplied the districts south of Shewa, but it was the beginning of a trade route that reached south to Luuq (in modern-day Somalia) and beyond to Bardera. When the American Arthur Donaldson Smith was exploring the upper reaches of the Shebelle River in October 1894, he found that the local Ethiopian governor, Ras Wolde Guebre, had made Ginir his headquarters and had installed a garrison of about 200 men. A post route by mule from Addis Ababa to Ginir existed in 1904, one of the few places in southern Ethiopia with that kind of service at that time. A post office was opened within the period 1923-1932; a postal cancellation is known from 1928.

Ginir (woreda)

Ginir is one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the administrative center of the woreda, Ginir. Part of the Bale Zone, Ginir is bordered on the south by the Gestro River (or Weyib River) which separates it from Goro, on the west by Sinanana Dinsho, on the northwest by Gaserana Gololcha, on the northeast by Seweyna, and on the east by Raytu. Towns include Delo Serbo.

Overview

About 15% of the area of this woreda is covered with valley, gorges and hills. Rivers include the Dinkit, Gololcha and Tebel Rivers. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 30.5% is arable or cultivable, 31.2% pasture, 35.6% forest, and the remaining 2.7% is considered swampy, mountainous or otherwise unusable. Khat, fruits and vegetables are important cash crops.Coffee is also an important cash crop; between 2,000 and 5,000 hectares are planted with it.

Industry in the woreda includes 29 grain mills and one brick factory employing 61 people, as well as 25 wholesalers, 165 retailers and 66 service providers. There were 28 Farmers Associations and 9 Farmers Service Cooperatives. Ginir has 77 kilometers of dry-weather and 101 all-weather road, for an average of road density of 75.7 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 35.6% of the total population has access to drinking water.