Poor rural households will receive financial assistance to improve their labour skills and increase their agricultural productivity beginning in the middle of May, reported the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

The assistance is in response to the Prime Minister's decree which promised to fund a programme that offered to promote skills for more than 22 million farmers across the country.

Deputy minister Nguyen Trong Dam said that the State would provide 6-10 million VND (315-526 USD) for each rural household to buy new seeds and other materials to increase their agricultural productivity. They will also be able to purchase new equipment and machines in order to store and process their products after the harvest.

However, these households would work with local pilot projects that involve the transfer of technology and the use of new seeds, which had been approved by the relevant authorities, said Dam.

Under the project, farmers will also be provided with training materials, funds to supplement travel, food and accommodation costs. They will have to pay a training fee for short-term courses.

Vocational training schools for poor, rural labourers will receive 3 million VND (157 USD) for each person they train.

These funds will be used to cover fees for teachers and to finance equipment for the courses.

The enterprises who offer the training courses for rural labourers and employ them for at least 24 months after the training, will receive 1.5 million VND (78 USD) per student per course to pay for teachers and equipment.

The trainees will be given 15,000 VND per day for food expenses.

If a trainee lives 15km from the training institution, they will be eligible to receive 200,000 VND per course. This would help the poor labourers' lives while they were attending the training courses, said Dam.

Local authorities could also give more assistance at their discretion.

Under the project, each poor rural commune will also receive 2 million VND per year to disseminate relevant Government policies and provide legal assistance to local labourers./.