Dodota is one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Arsi Zone it is located in the Great Rift Valley. It is part of the former Dodotana Sire woreda, which was divided for Dodota and Sire woredas. Dodotana Sire is bordered on the south by Tena, on the southwest by Hitosa, on the north by the Misraq Shewa Zone, on the east by Jeju, and on the southeast by Sude. The administrative center for the woreda is Dera; other towns include Awash Melkasa. Overview The altitude of this woreda ranges from 1400 to 2500 meters above sea level. Rivers include 40 kilometers of the Awash, 32 of the Keleta, and 8 of the Agamsa. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 23.2% is arable or cultivable, 10.6% pasture, 4.3% forest, and the remaining 42% is considered swampy, mountainous or otherwise unusable. A local landmark is the Dilfakar game preserve, named for a local Muslim leader whose tomb is in this woreda. Haricot bean, onions, garlic and linseed are important cash crops; Dodtona Sire produced 4.3% of the total amount of hides and skins in this Zone. Industry in the woreda includes 4 edible oil mills, 35 grain mills and one brick factory employing 177 people, as well as 777 registered traders of whom 22.9% were wholesalers 50.7% retailers and 26.4% service providers. There were 26 Farmers Associations with 15,581 members and 16 Farmers Service Cooperatives with an unknown number of members. Dodotana Sire has 85 kilometers of dry-weather and 51 of all-weather road, for an average road density of 129.9 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers; 25.5 kilometers of road connecting Dera and Amude is reported under construction. About 35.2% of the total population has access to drinking water. History Wheat and barley were introduced to the area when Emperor Menelik settled his soldiers there. These settlers land and started to plough and plant these grains. The local people imitated their farming system and began to produce these crops. However, the fact these soldiers came as landlords to Arsi, and the dislike of the Arsi Oromo for this new sedentary life, led to conflicts between the two. Interviews with local elders reveal that in 1912 Lenjiso Diga organized his fellow Oromos to attack the newcomers. They fought a battle at a place called Kedida that lasted 2 days. The soldiers won, and afterwards