Kebri Beyah is one of the 52 woreda

Woreda

Woreda is an administrative division of Ethiopia , equivalent to a district . Woredas are composed of a number of Kebele, or neighborhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia...

s in the Somali Region

Somali Region

Somali Region ; is the eastern-most of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. It is often called Somalia, though it is not to be confused with the independent country of the same name. The capital of Somali State is Jijiga...

 of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. Part of the Jijiga Zone

Jijiga Zone

Jijiga is one of nine zones of the Ethiopian Somali Region. This zone is named after its largest city, Jijiga. Other towns and cities in this zone include Qarbibayax, Dhurwaale Awbere, Derwonaji, tuli gulled and Hart Sheik...

, Kebri Beyah is bordered on the south by the Degehabur Zone

Degehabur Zone

Degehabur Zone is one of the nine Zones in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. This zone is named after its largest city, Degehabur. Degehabur Zone is bordered on the south by Korahe, on the west by Fiq, on the northwest by the Oromia Region, on the north by Jijiga and Somalia, and on the east by...

, on the west by the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...

, on the northwest by Jijiga

Jijiga (woreda)

Jijiga is one of the 67 woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Jijiga Zone, Jijiga is bordered on the south by Babille, on the southwest by Gursum, on the west by the Oromia Region, on the north by the Shinile Zone, on the northeast by Awbere and on the southeast by the Degehabur Zone...

, on the north by Awbere

Awbere (woreda)

Awbere , , is one of the 47 woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Jijiga Zone, Awbere is bordered on the southwest by Jijiga, on the west and north by the Shinile Zone, on the east by Somalia, and on the southeast by Kebri Beyah...

, on the northeast by Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, and on the southeast by Harshin

Harshin (woreda)

Harshin is one of the 47 woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The easternmost woreda of the Jijiga Zone, Harshin is bordered on the south by the Degehabur Zone, on the west by Kebri Beyah, and on the east by Somalia...

. The administrative center of the woreda is Kebri Beyah; other towns in Kebri Beyah include Hart Sheik

Hart Sheik

Hart Sheik is a town in eastern Ethiopia, and best known as the location of a refugee camp operated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2000. According to materials at the Nordic Africa Institute website, the town may be named after a Somali sub-clan, the Harti...

.

The average elevation in this woreda is 1530 meters above sea level. The only perennial rivers in Kebri Beyah are the Fafen

Fafen River

Fafen River is a river of eastern Ethiopia. Rising to the east of Harar, this river cuts through a series of wide, flat shelves of sedimentary rocks made of sandstone, limestone, and gypsum as it descends in a south-eastern direction towards the Shebelle River. The Fafen only joins the Shebelle...

 and the Jerer

Jerer River

The Jerer is an intermittent river of eastern Ethiopia. A tributary of the Fafen River, it rises near Jijiga to flow in a south-easternly direction....

. , Kebri Beyah has 55 kilometers of asphalt road, 48 of all-weather gravel road and 2642 kilometers of community roads; about 13.1% of the total population has access to drinking water.

The Ethiopian De-mining Office reported in November 2008 that it had cleared land mines planted in Kebri Beyah as part of the four million square meters of land the office had cleared in the Somali Region.

Demographics

Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency

Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)

The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...

 in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 204,706, of whom 98,055 are men and 106,651 women; 35,378 or 17.28% of its population are urban dwellers, which is less than the Zone average of 22.5%. Information is not available on the area of Kebri Beyah, so its population density cannot be calculated.

The 1997 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 162,474, of whom 85,974 were men and 76,500 women; 23,725 or 14.6% of its population were urban dwellers. The largest ethnic group reported in Kebri Beyah was the Somali

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

 160,785 (99.0%).

Agriculture

A sample enumeration performed by the CSA in 2001 interviewed 17,209 farmers in this woreda, who held an average of 1.15 hectares of land. Of the 19.8 square kilometers of private land surveyed, 75.11% was under cultivation, 11.21% pasture, 12.4% fallow, and 1.29% was devoted to other uses; the area in woodland is missing. For the land surveyed in this woreda, 61.29% was planted in cereals like teff

Teff

Eragrostis tef, known as teff, taf , or khak shir , is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to the northern Ethiopian Highlands of Northeast Africa....

, sorghum

Sorghum

Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...

 and maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, and 0.53% in pulses; the area planted in root crops and vegetables is missing. Permanent crops included 2539 hectares planted in khat

Khat

Khat, qat, gat or Waquish Spoken from true Yemeni, is a flowering plant native to tropical East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....

, and 41.84 in fruit trees. 88.59% of the farmers both raised crops and livestock, while 4.29% only grew crops and 7.11% only raised livestock. Land tenure in this woreda was distributed amongst 98.02% owning their land, 0.94% renting, and the remaining 1.04% holding their land under other forms of tenure.