South Africa's commercial farmers are calling for an honest system to check the real price of farm land, with the aim of avoiding artificially inflated prices by corrupt intermediaries.

Farmers union Agri SA said it welcomed Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti’s view expressed in parliament that middle players between farmers and the state should be blamed for excessive prices, not farmers.

Union president Johannes Möller, said the government's purchase of land for subsistence farmers had distorted the "willing seller, willing buyer" market along with dishonest government officials.

"The problem is corruption, land prices get inflated by people working for the government and they then get a kick back from that," he said.

Agri SA said fraud, poor valuations and lack of transparency could be addressed by a 'systems overall' approach which the current green paper on land reform is proposing.

Möller said the green paper's proposal of a Land Management Commission and a valuer-general would contribute to ensuring fair and equitable prices.

The green paper is expected to be up for discussion until December, with a white paper for Cabinet approval predicted by the end of the year.

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Photo: Ipsnews.net

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