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More state land to be released to farmers

───   CHRISTAL-LIZE MULLER 08:32 Fri, 02 Oct 2020

More state land to be released to farmers | News Article

Members of the public will this month have an opportunity to apply for available agricultural state land.


This forms part of government's contribution to the land reform programme. Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, made this announcement during a media conference in Pretoria on Thursday. Didiza gave feedback on the department's progress in this regard since President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement in February this year. He said during his fourth state of the nation address in Parliament government will release some 700 000 hectares of state land for agricultural production this year. Here is Didiza...


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Didiza said 135 117 hectares of state land have already been released to 275 farmers this year, despite challenges caused by the Covid-19-pandemic.  This includes about 500 hectares of land that has already been released in the Free State, a total of 929 hectares of land in Gauteng, and 4 940 hectares in KwaZulu-Natal. 

According to Didiza, more than 32 000 hectares in Limpopo and 50 480 hectares of land were released to farmers in Mpumalanga. In North West, 46,097 hectares of state land were provided to farmers. The beneficiaries of these state land in terms of demographics included 160 women who benefited out of the 275 farmers. A total of 114 were young people. One person with disabilities benefited. 

She added more state land will in addition be made available out of the remaining hectares. In two weeks' time, the government will issue an advertisement notice of farms measuring about 529 014 hectares which is part of the remaining hectares (700 000 hectares) announced by Ramaphasa earlier this year.

In the Eastern Cape, 43 000 hectares, Free State 8 333 hectares, KwaZulu-Natal 3 684 hectares, and Limpopo 121 567 hectares will be released. In Mpumalanga 40 206 hectares, Northern Cape 12 224 hectares, and North West 300 000 hectares are to be released to farmers. 

Didiza said Gauteng and the Western Cape have no land to be advertised and with the Western Cape not having state land that is due to be released, once land is available it will be released through other programmes of land reform.  

The advertisement notices will be published in the local, district, and provincial newspapers, websites, and on local radio stations. Application forms will be made available in the district and provincial offices of the former agricultural department and the new agriculture, land reform, and rural development department. It will also be available at municipal district offices.  The advert will run from October 15 to November 15.

She said the announcement on Thursday aimed to prepare citizens - those who will be eligible for land -  to take note of the way forward. The 30 days advertisement process aims to ensure people have enough time to apply.


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