China will invest USD 12.58 million this year to train illiterate farmers in 10,000 villages on modern agricultural technology as part of the government's ambitious efforts to reduce the growing urban-rural divide.

Under this, 10,000 villages nationwide have been chosen and they would be given USD 1,258 each as subsidy for training.

Chinese farmers received merely 7.3 years of education on the average and 92 per cent of the country's illiterate and semiliterate people are in rural areas.

Nearly half of China's 490 million rural laborers merely received preliminary education and 7.6 per cent of them are illiterate or semiliterate, the official said.

Most of them have never received any professional training and can hardly meet the requirement in the development of a new countryside.

China has focused on developing its industries and cities in the past 20-plus years. Sluggish rural development provides a stark contrast to booming urban economy.

China set the goal of building new countryside last year, hoping to achieve balanced development in the country.

Last week, China's Ministry of Science and Technology published the first volume of books in a series to teach farmers practical agricultural technology.

Source:佚名