Rural workers from Sichuan Province, dubbed "chuanjun" or "the Sichuan army," are to pick up some new "weapons."

The provincial government is poised to arm them with additional skills through vocational training so they can more easily find work away from the land, in sectors such as construction and catering.

"How to make rural workers from Sichuan more competitive in the labour market tops our agenda," Sichuan Governor Zhang Zhongwei told reporters during the third session of the 10th National People's Congress held in Beijing.

"The provincial government will spend more on vocational training for rural labour surplus. We are also encouraging all kinds of non-government funded training." he said.

The government in the southwestern province allocated 61 million yuan (US$7.3 million) at the beginning of last year to train rural workers.

More than 9 million such workers had received technical training by the end of last year, according to statistics from the provincial government. Training subjects range from construction to household services and catering.

Sichuan, with a population of more than 87 million, is one of China's most populous provinces. More than 80 per cent of the residents are farmers.

"Given such a large population, the land resources are very limited," said Zhang Zhongwei.

"They can never increase their earnings just off the land. Transferring them to non-agricultural jobs is the only way out," the governor added.

The inland province "exported" about 15 million rural labourers last year, creating total wealth of 57.6 billion yuan (US$6.9 billion), a year-on-year growth of over 20 per cent.

Most of Sichuan's rural workers flock to coastal areas, such as South China's Guangdong Province and East China's Shanghai Municipality.

They face growing competition in work as a rising number of rural labourers from other provinces, such as Anhui, Hunan and Hubei, are also looking for jobs in large cities.

The Sichuan provincial government will allocate an additional 95 million yuan (US$11 million) to improve farmers' living standards this year, "the largest investment" in the sector in recent years, the governor said.

Farmers' per capita income reached 2,580 yuan (US$310) last year, rising 15.7 per cent year-on-year.

Source: China Daily