South Africa said on Friday it had been offered 48 square miles of land for farming in Angola and Uganda but that it would not take up land offers without security of tenure.

Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said at a conference Zambia had also offered South Africa, the continent's largest economy, a 48-year lease agreement for land.

"In Angola and Uganda, we have been promised immediately 48 square miles of land ... but we're not going to go there unless we have security of tenure," Joemat-Pettersson said.

Farmers' union AgriSA deputy president Theo de Jager separately said no decision had been made on what farming activities would take place on the land which had been offered by Angola and Uganda.

"We still have to do research and soil testing before we decide on what activities will happen there," de Jager said.

Zambia, which is trying to diversify its economy from copper mining to mainly agriculture, manufacturing and tourism, has created two huge farm blocks with a total of 150 000 ha, where it plans to attract foreign investors.

Zambia's government has said it will waive taxes such as a 25% duty on imported farming equipment and 16.5 percent value added tax and is currently putting up infrastructure such as roads and power in one of the farm blocks to attract both local and foreign farmers.

De Jager said last month AgriSA expected to finalise its ten-million hectare deal with the Republic of Congo and also another 35,000-hectare land deal with the Libyan government in October.