HARARE, aug 12 (reuters) - zimbabwe's president robert mugabe is due to address the nation on monday for the first time since hundreds of white farmers quietly defied a deadline to surrender their lands to black settlers or face jail.

a government official said mugabe would make a televised address at a heroes' day funeral for a party stalwart, former finance minister bernard chidzero, at about 10:30 a.m. (0830 gmt).

farmers facing an abrupt end to a lifestyle they have lived for generations hope for a reprieve on monday, but the official told reuters mugabe was unlikely to back off.

about 2,900 of zimbabwe's remaining 4,500 white commercial farmers were told in may to hand over their farms without compensation by midnight last thursday.

jenni williams, spokeswoman for the new justice for agriculture (jag) pressure group, told reuters on saturday about 60 percent of farmers had opted to defy the eviction orders.

about 1,100 farmers, most of them in areas seen to face a high risk of violence from pro-government militants, quit after the may orders or in the last hours before the deadline expired.

williams said there had been one attempted eviction on saturday night, but she said most areas had been quiet.

"no one has been arrested yet and that gives us some hope.

that's why we expect a reprieve, so that the (land reform) process can be done in a non-disruptive way," she said.

williams and commercial farmers' union president colin cloete said there had been no violence or official action against farmers after the deadline.

minister calls farmers racists but local government minister ignatius chombo told state radio the defiance proved that the farmers were "a racist bunch, which want privileges for themselves only".

other government ministers and officials said in state media interviews that the farmers, who face up to two years in jail, would be prosecuted and would have only themselves to blame.

on their farms or in hotels and resorts where many sought refuge over the long bank holiday, farmers pondered their future in the former rhodesia, where white rule ended in 1980.

a manager at a hotel in the eastern resort of nyanga said hotels in the area were full, mainly with farming families.

"many of them are spending a lot of their time lounging, talking," he said by telephone.

zimbabwe's land reform programme, a trigger for tightening western sanctions against mugabe and his top aides, is being driven to a climax amid a worsening regional food crisis.

up to 13 million people, close to half of them in zimbabwe, could starve over the next six months as a result of drought and political mismanagement across six countries in the region.

political analysts said mugabe might have delayed his response to the defiance to give him time to gauge the reaction of government supporters waiting to move onto the land.

whites owned more than 70 percent of the best farmlands when colonial rule formally ended in 1980, but most have said they are willing to give up some of it under an organised programme.

britain, the former colonial power, and other governments have offered financial support for an ordered land reform programme, but they have been unable to agree terms with mugabe.

two thirds of farms listed instead, mugabe has listed about two thirds of the white farms for transfer to landless blacks without compensation.

mugabe has so far refused to budge from the programme and analysts said monday's address would come against an emotional background linked to the struggle for independence and last week's death of a veteran activist.

the ruling zanu-pf party on friday declared former finance minister chidzero a national hero and he will be buried on monday at heroes' acre, where mugabe will speak.

chidzero was a senior diplomat at the united nations for nearly two decades starting in the early 1960s, rising to deputy secretary general of the u.n. trade and development agency (unctad) in 1977. he was also a consultant for the world bank.

the daily news newspaper, which is usually critical of mugabe's administration, praised the minister.

"he was considered one of the few 'clean' senior zanu-pf officials, untainted by scandal or corruption during his tenure as a cabinet minister," it said in a front-page report. (harare newsroom +2634-369110)