INTERVIEW-Ethiopia targets 3 million ha for commercial farms
* Two million hectares already secured
* Indian investors eyeing land
* Food security concerns dismissed
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Ethiopia plans to offer 3 million hectares of land over the next two years for investors to develop large-scale commercial farms, a government official said on Thursday.
Countries in Asia and the Gulf -- such as China, India and Saudi Arabia -- have rushed to buy farmland abroad to grow crops for their own people after food price inflation last year highlighted the need for greater food security.
Africa has become a prime target, despite concerns about the impact on the world's poorest people, and locals nicknaming the practise 'land-grabbing'.
"We will make 3 million hectares available for investment in the next two years," Esayas Kebede, director of the government's Agricultural Investment Agency told Reuters. Continued...
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