COMMUNITY landlords have said that a £6 million pot of money, which will be available from Monday to enable residents to buy the land they live on, will not be enough to meet demand.
Over 500,000 acres are under community control in Scotland and that will rise with the new Scottish Land Fund.
Land reform campaigners insist there is no shortage of communities wanting to follow Assynt, Eigg, Gigha, North Harris and South Uist in taking control of their land.
Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson is due to visit the 37-acre woodland at Crossgates in Fife, which was the first land purchased through the community right to buy provisions in May 2005.
It was supported by the first Scottish Land Fund, which ran from 2001 to 2006, and Mr Stevenson will today announce its successor will open for business on Monday.
David Cameron, from the North Harris Estate, who is chairman of Community Land Scotland, the umbrella organisation for community landlords, welcomed the announcement. But he warned: "I believe that such will be the interest, it is likely the demand we always knew was there for a dedicated land fund will out-stretch the available resources. When that moment comes I hope the Scottish Government will respond positively and support building ever more momentum in achieving further land ownership change."
The first Scottish Land Fund awarded £13.9m to 188 community groups, allowing them to buy or gain control of 173,000 acres of local land.
Its most celebrated success was the island of Gigha where 300 years of population decline has been dramatically reversed.
The Scottish Land Fund was wound up in 2006, and its work transferred to the Big Lottery Fund's £50m Growing Community Assets (GCA) funding scheme, which had a wider remit than just land purchases.
In recent years there have been calls for a fund focused on buying land to be reinstated, as the Scottish Government faced criticism the momentum behind the community land movement had all but dissipated.
In February, the Scottish Government answered its critics by announcing a new £6m fund.
During his visit today, Mr Stevenson will say: "These are exciting times for Scotland and this fund will help more of our rural areas to take control of their own destinies and build the successful, flourishing communities of tomorrow."
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