South Africa: State to spend R2,7bn buying farmland to redistribute

The government plans to spend R2,7bn buying more than 320,000 ha of agricultural land during the current financial year in a bid to advance its land reform programme, says Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti. The government aims to redistribute 24,5-million hectares, equivalent to 30 per cent of agricultural land, to black farmers by 2014 -a target it is far from meeting. The department last year acquired 848 farms totalling 882238 ha, reports Business Day.