Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Gibe III

Gibe III – Environmental and Social Impact Assessment 300 ENV R CS 002 C - A9003099
generally done by women. Therefore, implementation of the Gibe III scheme will contribute to improve the
quality of life for women in particular.
5.3.5 Settlement Pattern and Housing Condition
The degree of urbanisation in the project weredas is still negligible with only 4.6% of the weredas population
living in urban centres while 95.6% of the population live in a rural setting.
Settlement in the project area is biased towards the cooler and more habitable highlands (above 1,300 m asl)
where almost all of the population live. However, during field investigation few numbers of households
scattered over the flat valley bottoms were observed. Discussion held with elders in the project area also
revealed that, traditionally, either sides of the river gorge had remained unoccupied by humans chiefly for
reasons related to health (malaria and tsetse).
Housings in rural areas are mostly tukuls and temporary shelters/structures made of twigs, rugs, mud and
grass. They are without partitioned rooms and windows for ventilation and daylight. They are often smokefilled
and dark inside and with earth floors. There are at least 7 persons living in such houses. These
unhealthy dwelling houses are favourable environment for the transmission of communicable diseases like
pulmonary tuberculosis, ARI, louse-borne diseases (typhus and relapsing fever), skin infections, etc.
However, recent development in the housing pattern of the project area is that farmers have moved away
from construction of tukuls with thatched roofs to corrugated iron sheets.
However, the Wereda Offices have planned to resettle people from the most densely populated parts of the
Wereda into areas where land pressure is less severe like the Omo valley. Therefore, demographic landscape
of the project area particularly that areas along the Gibe, Gojeb and Omo River banks will change in the
future.
5.3.6 Agriculture
5.3.6.1 Agro-Ecological Zone
The project area falls into the Kolla agro-ecological zone and has one annual growing period during the time
of the summer monsoon (Keremt). The length of the growing period in the project area ranges between 46
and 90 days depending on elevation.
5.3.6.2 Agricultural System
The farming system around the project area on the highland is well known for its complexity and variety of
crops that are grown. The farmers in the project area (mainly on the high land) produce small quantities of a
wide range of crops (as many as 15-20 different crops), including cereals, roots, tubers, pulses, spices, coffee
and fruits. Agronomically, such use of the land is very sound, allowing the land to be converted with
vegetation throughout most of the year, which helps to reduce the erosion effects of the heavy rain which
occurs in the area in July and August. Furthermore the use of pulses in the mixed crops also provides some
additional plant nutrients to the non-leguminous crops. Additionally, there is also considerable amount of
animal forage produced in this intensive crop production system. This is important to the farmers’ livestock,
notably cattle which are an integral component of the farming system in the project area.
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