Land – ground – earthier – not hard (7)
I believe the answer is:
eritrea
'land' is the definition.
(African country)
'ground earthier not hard' is the wordplay.
'ground' is an anagram indicator ('grind' the letters into a new form).
'not' suggests deleting specific letters.
'hard' becomes 'h' (abbreviation used in pencil classifications).
'earthier' with 'h' taken out is 'eartier'.
'eartier' is an anagram of 'ERITREA'.
(Other definitions for eritrea that I've seen before include "NE African state" , "African country, capital Asmara" , "East African country" , "It achieved independence from Ethiopia in 1993" , "part of Africa" .)