Gololcha is one of the

Aanaa Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after '' zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of wards call ...

s in

Oromia Regional State Oromia (, ) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. Under Article 49 of Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The provision of the article maintains special interest ...

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

Arsi Zone Arsi () is a Zones of Ethiopia, zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after a clan of the Oromo people, Oromo, who inhabit in the area. Arsi is bordered on the south by Bale Zone, on the southwest by the West Arsi Zone, on the northwest by Ea ...

, Gololcha is bordered on the south by Aminya, on the west by Chole, on the northwest by

Aseko Aseko is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the Arsi Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of . It is the administrative center of Aseko woreda. According to the Oromia Regional government, this town currently has ...

, and on the north and east by the

West Hararghe Zone West Hararge () is a zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. West Hararghe takes its name from the former province of Hararghe. West Harerge is bordered on the south by the Shebelle River which separates it from Bale, on the southwest by Arsi, on ...

. The administrative center of this woreda is Chancho; other towns include Tumuga, Jinga Dibo, Haro Akiya, and Mine.

Overview

The altitude of this woreda rarely exceeds 1500 meters above sea level. Rivers include 50 kilometers of the Gololcha, 26 of the Mine and 37 of the Daraba. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 20.6% is arable or cultivable, 21.7% pasture, 27%

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

, and the remaining 30.7% is considered swampy, mountainous or otherwise unusable.

Khat Khat (''Catha edulis''), also known as Bushman's tea, especially in South Africa, is a flowering plant native to eastern and southeastern Africa. It has a history of cultivation originating in the Harar area (present day eastern Ethiopia) and ...

and fruits are important cash crops.''Socio-economic profile of Arsi Zone''
Government of Oromia Region (last accessed 1 August 2006).

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 ...

is another important cash crop; over 50 square kilometers are planted in it. On 26 July 2009, the woreda agriculture and rural development office reported over five million quintals of coffee were harvested in the previous fiscal year. Industry in the woreda includes quarrying and pottery works, 4

grain mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separate ...

s employing 10 people, as well as 195 registered businesses of whom 18.5% were wholesalers 65.6% retailers and 15.9% service providers. There were 35 Farmers Associations with 13,061 members, but no Farmers Service Cooperatives. Gololcha has 113 kilometers of dry-weather and no all-weather roads, for an average of road density of 65.7 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. It is one of two woredas in this Zone where the population has no access to

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 172,176, of whom 87,785 were men and 84,391 were women; 3,472 or 2.02% of its population were urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants said they 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 ...

, with 78.36% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 20.23% of the population practised

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 ...

. Based on figures published by the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency, also known as the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS; Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ስታቲስቲክስ አገልግሎት), is an Ethiopian government agency designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that ...

in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 162,892, of whom 80,532 are men and 82,360 are women; 4,384 or 2.69% of its population are urban dwellers, which is less than the Zone average of 12.3%. With an estimated area of 1,719.38 square kilometers, Gololcha has an estimated population density of 94.7 people per square kilometer, which is less than the Zone average of 132.2. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 117,828, of whom 59,895 were men and 57,933 women; 2,449 or 2.08% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Gololcha were 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 ...

(82.13%), and 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 ...

(17.13%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.74% of the population.

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 ...

was spoken as a first language by 78.01%, and 21.94% spoke

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 ...

; the remaining 0.05% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants were

, with 77.23% of the population having reported they practiced that belief, while 21.53% of the population said they professed

, and 1.19% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Oromia Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.13, 2.16, 2.20 (accessed 6 April 2009).

Notes

{{Districts of the Oromia Region Districts of Oromia