Yeki is a

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''List of zones of Ethiopia, zones'' and the ''Regions of Ethiopia, regional states''. These districts are f ...

South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region The Southwest Ethiopia Region, officially the Southwest Ethiopia Peoples' Regional State () is a regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was split off from the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) on 23 November 2021 ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. Part of the

Sheka Zone Sheka is a zone in the Southwest Ethiopia Regional State of Ethiopia. Sheka is bordered on the south by Bench Maji, on the west by the Gambela Region, on the north by the Oromia Region, and on the east by Keffa. The administrative center of She ...

, Yeki is bordered on the south by the

Bench Maji Zone Bench Sheko (previously known as Bench Maji) is a zone in the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Bench Sheko is bordered on the south and southeast by West Omo, on the west by the Gambela Region on the north by Sheka, and on the e ...

, on the west by the

Gambela Region The Gambela Region, also spelled Gambella, and officially the Gambela Peoples' Region (), is a regional state in western Ethiopia. Previously known as Region 12, its capital and largest city is Gambela. It is bordered by the Oromia Region to t ...

, on the north by Amderacha, and on the east by the

Keffa Zone Keffa or Kaffa, is a zone in the South West Region of Ethiopia. The administrative center is Bonga. History The Zone is named after the Kingdom of Kaffa. Kaffa was part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) unti ...

.The name 'Yeki' is named after the name of Sheko chief. The major town in Yeki is Tepi. Tepi is also named after the name of Majang man who live in the center of the current Tepi town. The highest point in Yeki is Mount Teppi (2728 meters), a dormant volcano. Major rivers include the Beko and Shiy. Two varieties of

subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...

are practiced in this woreda: one, in the northwestern corner, is based on growing cereals and

enset ''Ensete ventricosum'', commonly known as enset or ensete, Ethiopian banana, Abyssinian banana, pseudo-banana, false banana and wild banana, is a species of flowering plant in the banana family Musaceae. The domesticated form of the plant is ...

; the other, in the rest of the woreda, is based on

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and spices. Important cash crops in the first part include

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

teff ''Teff'' (), also known as ''Eragrostis tef'', Williams lovegrass, or annual bunch grass, is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to Ethiopia, where it first originated in the Ethiopian Highlands. It is cultivated for its edible seed ...

, wheat, pulses, and enset; while in the second they are corn,

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

, coffee,

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

and

turmeric Turmeric (), or ''Curcuma longa'' (), is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. It is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that requires temperatures between and high ...

. Other important non-agricultural sources of income include selling milk. According to a 2004 report, Yeki had 76 kilometers of all-weather roads, for an average road density of 126 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. A 2002 United Nations Emergency Unit for Ethiopia assessment report mentions increasing conflict between the

Majang The Majang people, or ''Majangir'', live in southwestern Ethiopia and speak a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic cluster. The 1998 census gave the total of the Majangir population as 15,341, but since they live scattered in the hills in dispersed ...

and Sheko, which spilled over into neighboring Godere of the Gambela Region. The Majang and Sheko people claimed the ownership of the Yeki Woreda and they demanded to be granted political self-administration.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this woreda has a total population of 134,519, of whom 68,895 are men and 65,624 women; 24,829 or 18.46% of its population are urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants practiced

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

, with 44.85% of the population reporting that belief, 29.8% were

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, 21.66% were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, and 1.99% practiced traditional beliefs. In the 1994 national census Yeki had a population of 85,699, of whom 44,004 were men and 41,695 women; 10,616 or 12.39% of its population were urban dwellers. The six largest ethnic groups reported in this woreda were the Kafficho (29.78%), the

Amhara Amhara may refer to: * Amhara people, an ethnic group of Ethiopia * Amharic, a language spoken by the Amhara people * Bete Amhara, a lordship and later province of medieval Ethiopia * Amhara Province, a historical region of Ethiopia * Amhara Region ...

(29.48%), the

Oromo Oromo may refer to: * Oromo people, an ethnic group of Ethiopia and Kenya * Oromo language, an Afroasiatic language See also * *Orma (clan), Oromo tribe *Oromia Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homelan ...

(11.67%), the Shekkacho (7.45%), the Bench (7.33%), Sheko (7.26%) and the Majang(6.1%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.54% of the population.

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

was spoken as a first language by 32.91% of the inhabitants, 28.48% spoke Kafa, 11.36%

Oromiffa Oromo, historically also called Galla, is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Oromo people, native to the Ethiopian state of Oromia; and northern Kenya. It is used as a lingua franca in Oromia and n ...

, 7.55% Sheki-noono, 7.17% Sheko, and 6.84% spoke Bench; the remaining 5.69% spoke all other primary languages reported. Concerning

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

, 41.40% of the population were considered literate; 32.09% of children aged 7–12 were in primary school; 11.17% of the children aged 13–14 were in junior secondary school; and 6.78% of the inhabitants aged 15–18 were in senior secondary school. Concerning

sanitary conditions Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems a ...

, about 78.87% of the urban houses and 27.95% of all houses had access to safe drinking water at the time of the census, while about 77.26% of the urban and 38.24% of the total had toilet facilities.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
Tables 2.1, 2.12, 2.19, 3.5, 3.7, 6.3, 6.11, 6.13 (accessed 30 December 2008)

Notes

{{Districts of the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region Districts of the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region