For the first time since it was created, the ministry is working to strengthen the position of rural migrant workers in cities by training them to obtain jobs that are more lucrative.

"We've found that training farmers seeking fortunes in urban areas is imperative, as most of them lack the technical skills that jobs in cities are increasingly requiring," said Zhang Hongyu, deputy director of the ministry's Policies and Regulations Department.

As the country grapples with low rural incomes and a huge labor surplus in the countryside, agricultural officials and experts have agreed that helping farmers move and work in cities is a solution.

The sheer size of China's rural migrant workforce can be gauged from the fact that 94 million such workers, plus 20 million of their families, migrated to cities last year -- a size equal to entire population of Japan.

But only 12 per cent of them received senior high school education, and still fewer of them have technical training, according to ministry sources.

But in recent years China's economic boom towns in coastal areas, as well as some eastern provinces, have shifted from labor-intensive businesses to workplaces requiring technology and skills, Zhang said.

"Farmers with little technical skills have found themselves in a disadvantaged position when seeking to be employed in cities on a decent salary,'' Zhang said.

Chinese farmers are increasingly reliant on salaries earned in urban areas to increase their incomes.

Last year they earned a total income of 527.8 billion yuan (US$63.6 billion), which contributed to 42 per cent of their rise in incomes, the latest statistics of the ministry revealed.

Zhang said his ministry is prioritizing ways that will enable them to become employed and earn more money in cities.

The ministry has just concluded a trial scheme offering training for farmers in six rural counties in areas that include Chongqing Municipality of Southwest China and Jiangxi Province in East China.

The project will continue this year, and it is expected to involve more regions in the years ahead, said Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin.

As well as providing much-needed skills training, the project disseminates workplace safety and legal knowledge among farmers who want to work in urban areas.

A farmer in Ji'an County of Jiangxi won 15,000 yuan (US$1,807) payment in arrears by using legal know-how he learned last year at a training course, Zhang said, without giving the farmer's name.

Wang Chunlan, a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislating body, said improved training to farmers means they can provide better quality of service in cities.

But Du Xiaoshan, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said he anticipated competition will emerge in the long run between rural migrant workers and urban professionals as the former keeps improving their skills.

He cited a landmark decree issued by the State Council in January that all trades and work types should be open to laborers of urban and rural origin without discrimination.

Zhang Xiulin, a researcher with the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy in Beijing, said training for farmers should be conducted by multiple sources, including ministries of agriculture, education and labor and social security.

(China Daily April 14, 2003)