More than 40 Northern Province farmers have offered to sell 16 852 hectares of land to the provincial department of land affairs as part of a project to transfer 30% of agricultural land to blacks within 15 years. Provincial land affairs representative Phumudzo Makharemedza said on Wednesday that 43 farmers had responded to government advertisements that were placed in May this year. The department asked for more land in order to kick-start the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) programme and is cautiously optimistic about the farmers’ response. “We cannot say we have enough land now, because we have received 36 applications from black farmers for the land and they are still coming in,” Makharemedza said. – African Eye News Service