Kaffa Province
Kaffa ( ከፋ ) was until 1998 a province in the southwest of Ethiopia with an area of 54,600 km ² and a half million inhabitants. Capital of the province was Jimma.
Geography
The area is mainly mountainous country up to about 3500 m altitude. It is bounded on the east by the Omo. The climate is mild, and there's a lush tropical vegetation before.
History
Kaffa was founded in 1400 as an independent kingdom and conquered in 1897 by Menelik II. The first known city, Shadda, was founded in 1500. In 1998, the province was incorporated into the new region of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples.
Economy
Kaffa is the original home of the coffee, which grows wild here in the mountain rainforests in countless varieties. All plants of the genus Caffea arabica around the world are descendants of local shrubs.
Coffee has long been the main source of income of the population, but by the sharp decline in world market prices for coffee, the residents need more and more to switch to other products. Through the application of new agricultural land at the expense of rainforests, the structure of the region is severely damaged.
The rain forests that dominated the area Kaffa earlier are decreased clearance by fire for new settlement areas and as the only energy source for the region now on only 3% of the original area; Only in the last 30 years were 60 % of the tree population lost.
For some years there is a large rainforest protection project on the use of the last wild coffee crops that grow in the rainforest, is. Currently, around 30 cooperatives take care of the harvest and marketing of these specialty coffee and have helped over 40,000 people to income.
Since 2010, a region of Kaffa in a biosphere reserve by UNESCO within the framework of the MAB program.