A study case on coffee (Coffea arabica): Limu Coffe - IRD

The kingdom of Limmu-Ennarea was a continuation of the older kingdom of Ennarea,
which successfully resisted for many decades the Oromo conquerors. Despite this, Ennarea
kingdom drifted into an extended civil war and lacked leadership during the second half of
17 th century. In 1825, the lord of war then king Bofu transmitted power to his son Abba
Bagibo under whose rule the kingdom reached the peak of its existence. Due to wars in the
neighbouring Jima kingdom, merchants used the trade route through his kingdom to gain
access to Kaffa. Abba Bagibo made a concerted effort to promote this trade, both with
beneficial policies (offering security from bandits to traders, and lower tariffs) and with
coercive ones (requiring traders from Gondar, Adwa, Derita and Dawe to meet their
counterparts from Kaffa and further south at Seka). Seka was the capital of Limmu-Ennarea
sultanate. During his reign, the kingdom converted to Islam. Then Jima’s success to open the
Badi-Folla in 1847 reopened the trade route between Kaffa and Shewa, which merchants
preferred, and brought an end to Limmu-Ennarea prosperity. Abba Bagido’s son hastened the
kingdom’s decline.
All Gibe sultanates felt
successively under Amhara rules,
Menelik II conquering them: Guma
kingdom felt in 1885, Gomma in
1886, Gera in 1887, Limmu-Ennarea
in 1891 and Jima in 1932
(spontaneously abiding this latter
kept advantages). Coffee production
got progressively intensified while
the world coffee demand increased,
especially
(1936-41).
after Italian invasion
Nowadays Limu Kosa is one of the 180 woredas of Oromia Region, and got named in
part after the former kingdom of Limmu-Ennarea, whose territories included the area this
woreda now covers. In 2005, the ex-Limu Kosa woreda had an estimated total population of
254 911, of whom 128 770 were men and 126 141 women; 19 932 or 7.82% of its population
were urban dwellers, which is less than the zone average of 12.3%. With an estimated area of
2 880 square kilometers, it had an estimated population density of 88.5 people per square
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