Bench people (also known as Gimira), are an Omotic-speaking people indigenous to southwestern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

. According to the 2007 census there are 353,526 Bench people in Ethiopia, making up 0.48% of the country's total population2007 Ethiopian census, first draft
, Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency (accessed 6 May 2009) Bench are among the major ethnic groups inhabiting the Bench Maji Zone in the

Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; am, የደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል, Yädäbub Bḥer Bḥeräsäbočna Hzboč Kllə) is a regional state in southwestern ...

(SNNPR), and the majority live in the former district of Bench, which was divided into

Debub Bench Debub Bench is one of the woredas in the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is named for the Bench people. Part of the Bench Maji Zone, Debub Bench is bordered on the south by Meinit Shasha, on the west by Guraferda, on the north ...

Semien Bench Semien Bench is a woreda in South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region, Ethiopia. It is named for the Bench people. Part of the Bench Maji Zone, Semien Bench is bordered on the southwest by Debub Bench, on the west by Sheko, on the northwest by the Shek ...

, and

She Bench SheyBench is one of the woredas in the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the subgroup of Bench people. Part of the Bench Maji Zone, She Bench is bordered on the east and south by Meinit Goldiya, on the west by Debub ...

districts.

Bench language Bench (''Bencnon'', Shenon or Mernon, formerly called Gimira Rapold 2006) is a Northern Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup, spoken by about 174,000 people (in 1998) in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peopl ...

is the ancestral language of Bench people and belongs to the Northern Omotic languages.

Economy

Bench people are subsistence farmers who cultivate

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family ( Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many ot ...

, and root crops such as

taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Afric ...

and

yam Yam or YAM may refer to: Plants and foods *Yam (vegetable), common name for members of ''Dioscorea'' * Taro, known in Malaysia and Singapore as yam * Sweet potato, specifically its orange-fleshed cultivars, often referred to as yams in North Amer ...

as their major staple crops, though

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

and Ethiopian cardamom are also cultivated as the main

cash crop A cash crop or profit crop is an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") in subsiste ...

s. In some highland areas, Bench people cultivate

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley ...

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeolog ...

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes t ...

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

s and

teff ''Eragrostis tef'', also known as teff, Williams lovegrass or annual bunch grass, is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to the Horn of Africa, notably to both Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is cultivated for its edible seeds, also known a ...

. According to Bench District Administration Office Bench also raise cattle, sheep, goats, equine and poultry.

References

Omotic-speaking peoples Ethnic groups in Ethiopia {{Ethiopia-ethno-group-stub