Naannawa Shashamane is a woreda in Oromia Region, Ethiopia. It is named after the town of Shashamene what was separated from this woreda. Part of the West Arsi Zone located in the Great Rift Valley, Shashamene is bordered on the south by the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, on the west by Shala, on the north by Arsi Negele, on the east by the Kore, and on the southeast by Kofele. The largest town in Shashamene is Kuyera. Overview Except for the eastern portion, the altitude of this woreda ranges from 1500 to 2300 meters above sea level; Mount Abaro is the highest point. Rivers include the Dedeba Tina, Melka Oda and Laftu; small parts of Lakes Awasa and Chelaka lie in Shashamene. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 65% is arable or cultivable, 15% pasture, 2.4% forest, and the remaining 16.6% is considered swampy, degraded or otherwise unusable. The main crops produced for consumption and cash were potatoes, corn, wheat, barley and teff. In 1996, horse beans and peas were commonly grown, but by 2005 cultivation has mostly stopped because of theft; this has forced the locals to buy peas to prepare shiro, a common dish. Another crop no longer grown is finger millet (known as dagusa), because it takes a long time to cultivate and it demands labor year-around. Although Coffee is also an important cash crop of this woreda, less than 20 square kilometers are planted with this crop. Industry in the woreda includes one saw mill owned by the government, 76 small industries employing 249 people, 384 wholesalers 979 retailers and 630 service providers. There were 36 Farmers Associations with 21,545 members and 8 Farmers Service Cooperatives with 13,762 members. Shashamene has 40 kilometers of dry-weather and 91 all-weather road, for an average road density of 172 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 9% of the rural, 100% of the urban and 33% of the total population has access to drinking water. History The oral history of the inhabitants of this woreda begins with a severe famine around 1850, known as Rukisa (Arsi Oromiffa "hunger"), when the cattle developed diarrhea and "the Oromo in the area ate horse and donkey meat as a result of famine." At that time the inhabitants were primarily pastoralists. Around 1935, the gebbar system was imposed by the naftagna and balabat landowners, which led 95% of