Acknowledgment

Developing "SSA Feeds" and making it available to the general public, its target users and ultimately, to its beneficiaries -small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa-, is the result of the combined efforts of many individuals.

Scientists and staff working over the years at the Animal Nutrition/Analytical Services Laboratories of the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, provided and analyzed thousands of samples of feedstuffs. Drs David O. Anindo, Abdullah N. Said and A. Lahlou-Kassi compiled the initial database used in this software (Anindo D. O., Said A.N., and Lahlou-Kassi A. 1994. Chemical Composition and Nutritive value of Feedstuffs for Ruminant Livestock in sub-Saharan Africa, International Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 537 pp). Dr Markos Tibbo, who participated in the preparation of the database used in this publication, kindly provided the CGIAR Systemwide Livestock Programme with a copy of the original data. Ms Mahlet Mekuria assisted in extensive modifications of this file to meet the requirements of a web-based, user-friendly software. Mr Abate Tedla and Mr Asebe Abdena assisted in identifying plant names and uses. Mr Menkir Girma assisted in formatting documents and images. The computer program was developed by Mr Ephrem Getahun. Messrs Apollo Habtamu, Daniel Haile-Michael and Birru Dori designed and manage the website. The project is coordinated by Dr Salvador Fernandez-Rivera.

Appreciation is expressed to the Donors of the CGIAR Systemwide Livestock Programme, as well as its Members and partners for the financial support provided to make this effort possible.

Caution: It has recently come to light that the Metabolizable Energy values in the SSA Feeds database appear to be higher than expected. These values were predicted from IVDMD values and the method of prediction is currently under investigation. In the meantime please exercise caution in the use of the ME data. Alan Duncan 1/7/09