A new Government scheme will train over one million people each year in rural areas until 2020.

The project on Strengthening Training for Industrialisation and Modernisation in Rural Areas from 2008-2020 was set up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

According to MARD, there are more than 25 million farmers nationwide, accounting for 55.7% of total labour force.

Only 16.88% of rural labourers have graduated from vocational training schools, colleges or universities. The remaining 83.12% are untrained labourers; some are even illiterate.

About 17.67% of farmers have gone through training courses in agriculture, forestry or aquaculture.

“To raise farmers’ incomes, job training is a top priority,” said Tran Duc Vien, Dean of Agriculture University I.

According to him, 17% of rice farmers in the North are using inappropriate cultivation techniques. There are currently no organisations offering job training in rural areas.

For the project’s goal, 60% of non-agricultural workers in rural areas and 40% of workers involving in farming will get training by 2020.

That means 1-1.1 million people will have to be trained each year from now on to meet the target.

However, existing vocational centres and educational organisations can only train about 600,000-700,000 labourers each year.

According to Dr. Dang Kim Son, head of the Institute of Policy, labourers that meet the Government’s priority criteria will be supported by vocational training courses starting in 2010. And vocational training will be based on business demands.

It was necessary to correctly identify the specific training needs of people in accordance to their region’s geographical and social traits, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said.

The deputy PM asked key rural areas to set up advanced farmers and farming models whose effectiveness had a proven track record. This would require the establishment of a region-wide information network for farmers who would become better informed by learning new skills to improve their trade.

However, Mr Nhan recognised that it was not possible to train all farmers. That is why he stressed selecting the right people for the training who could then act as trainers. (VNA)