Wereda Disaster Risk Profiling Programme: SNNPR
Disaster Risk Profile: Mirab Abaya Wereda (January 2017)
HOUSEHOLD AND COMMUNITY
VVULUNLENRERAABBILIILTITYY
Both crop and livestock production are the main livelihood activities
in the wereda. Crops are susceptible to rainfall shortage due to poor
access to drought tolerant and short maturing crop varieties,
shortage of irrigation water, lack of enough water harvesting
activities and poor agronomic practices. Some kebeles have access to
irrigation water from rivers, Abaya Lake and ponds, but very few of
them have used irrigation. Crops are also exposed to diseases and
pests due to lack of pesticides, poor agronomic practices (including
mono-cropping) and changing weather condition. On the other hand,
January and February are the most problematic months in terms of
water and pasture availability for livestock. Lack of periodic
vaccination, poor animal husbandry and favourable weather
condition for tse-tse fly exposed livestock to diseases.
Water logging, community settlement near Lake Abaya, presence of
ponds, high temperature, lack of environmental sanitation, poor
hygiene, food shortage (malnutrition) and lack of clean water
exposed households to major human diseases like malaria, diarrhea,
typhus and typhoid. Flood also affect the community due to sloppy
topography and lack of conservation works in some areas.
About 32% of the households have participated in cash-for-work
projects, while 16% have received food aid. Moreover, only 47% of
the households have managed to recover from disaster loss they
suffered implying weak resilience capacity of the community in the
wereda.
Accessibility:
Access to road and urban centre: it took households 22 minutes to reach the nearest paved road, while average time taken to reach the nearest
urban center is 2 hours. Of the total households surveyed, 48% of them are located in the community with electricity, and 42% of them are
actually connected to electric power. In most kebeles, access to market is good except seasonal market price fluctuation.
Access to veterinary facility: 2/3rd of the households reported to have good access to veterinary service and livestock drugs.
Access to agricultural extension service: good access to extension service has been reported in all Kebeles of the wereda, and 89% of the
households have received agricultural extension service.
Access to fertilizer, pesticides and improved seeds: 60% of the households have used chemical fertilizer, while only 15% of the households
have used pesticides in crop production. On the other hand, 83% of the households reported using improved variety of seeds.
Access to water and sanitation: 2/3rd of the households primarily obtain drinking water from communal tab and 91% of the households do not
use water treatments. On the other hand, 96% of the households use outdoor latrine (hole on plot).
Access to credit: 35% of the households have borrowed money mainly from formal lending institutions to pay for various expenses.
Level of Awareness and Institutional Development
The literacy level of the population above 7 years of age is 15%, out of which 25% of them
completed only below first grade level, while 46% and 26% of the population attended
primary and secondary school respectively. With regard to gender disparity in education,
proportion of female students dominates at below first grade level, but their number
dwindles and highly dominated by males as the education level gets higher. Of the total
households surveyed, 14% of them are female-headed households.
Community awareness about disaster risk management system and actors is good. There
are many community based organizations such as Edir (to facilitate funeral ceremonies
and other social affairs), Ekub (money saving association), Debo (to help each other during
agricultural activities such as weeding and hoeing), Fishing associations and cooperatives.
There are NGOs such as World Vision Ethiopia, UNICEF, IRC and other NGOs helping the
community during disasters and on development issues.
InfoBits:
Population
: 74901 (2007)
Sex ratio
: 1003 F/1000 M
Urban Population : 5831 (2007)
Mean Altitude : 1303 m
Mean Slope
: 3.7%
Road density
: 77 m/km2
Measles caseload : 12 (2004-2009)
Sources: Various Secondary Sources
COMMUNITY CAPACITY TO COPE
Major coping mechanisms adopted by households during disasters include selling more livestock than usual, consumption rather than sale of crop
surplus, borrowing of food/cash to purchase food and labour migration.
Collection and sale of fire wood and grasses, collection of wild fruits for consumption,
Strong social network and cooperation is available in the area where the community help each other through Edir, Debo and others.
Crop and livestock diversity: average number of crops grown is 2, and the major types of crops grown include maize, wheat, barley, teff,
sorghum, haricot bean, Enset and cotton. On the other hand, cattle, goat, sheep and donkey are the major types of livestock owned by households
in the wereda.
Some households take credit from formal lending institutions like Omo microfinance and banks and participate in income generating activities.
There is also fishing opportunity for some community from Lake Abaya. Poultry production, petty trade, beekeeping, mineral mining and
weaving are additional sources of income.