The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority in partnership with the ACI Construction Limited has cultivated 4,200,000 seedlings of trees of tick, mahogany, cassia and shea in the five regions of the SADA ecological zone aimed at greening those areas and reducing climate change effects. To achieve the results, many boreholes, dug outs and mechanized sources of water had been constructed while over thousand workers had also been employed by the authority to take good care of the trees to obtain the economic benefits to ensure the development of the country. Mr. Polycarp Kazaresam, Project Manager of SADA Afforestation disclosed this on Monday during a familiarization tour of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Employment and Social Welfare and State Enterprises to some projects site of SADA to acquaint itself of the activities of the authority. The Committee was led by its Chairman, Mr. Prince Jacob Hayibor and seven other members. Alhaji Gilbert Seidu Iddi, the Chief Executive Officer of SADA said the authority was determined to green the catchment areas of the SADA to reduce the devastating effects of climate change which had created difficulties for the livelihoods of the people in those areas. He said SADA would grow over five million trees of various kinds to reduce the climate change effect and increase the crop yields of farmers in those areas stressing that such an intervention would also reduce floods. He said beside the afforestation project SADA was implementing through ACI Construction, five other projects were being implemented and mentioned inputs support programme which he said would leverage farmers’ needs and act as an additional MoFA programmes. Alhaji Iddi said SADA had also intervened in the guinea fowl rearing project to increase the consumption of the bird in the local Ghanaian markets with the hope of exporting excess. He added that SADA would soon step into housing schemes to provide cheaper and low cost housing for low income earners. Dr Ayesha Hakeem, Managing Director of the African Connections, a partner organization of SADA said her outfit had supported several farmers in the Atebubu-Amantin, Sene and Pru districts to cultivate pana 53, a new high yielding variety of maize and had increased their yield from 1.7 metric tons of maize per hectare to 4.9 metric tons per hectare. She said farmers harvested 20 bags per acre with the new variety as against six bags of acre with the old varieties and commended the SADA for introducing the variety to farmers in the country, stressing that farmer’s living conditions would greatly be enhanced in the coming years. Nana Agyeman, National Best Maize Farmer who cultivated the new pana 53 this year said the variety had enabled him win the award and increased his economic status and urged his colleague farmers to patronize it to increase their income.