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.