A breeding farm in Tân Hòa Village, Tân An Commune, Tân Châu Town in An Giang southern province. — VNA/VNS Photo Vũ Sinh

CẦN THƠ — A project aiming to train and transform agricultural and rural professions in the Mekong Delta by 2030 hopes to increase the number of skilled workers in the area by 1.6 million.

This objective was outlined during a recent workshop in Cần Thơ, a city in the south, organised by the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development (DCRD) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in collaboration with the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The seminar explored the present state and future direction for training and career shifts for agricultural and rural employees in the region by 2030.

Nguyễn Thị Hoàng Yến, the deputy director of DCRD, mentioned that the initiative aspires for approximately 80 per cent of cooperative leaders to undergo basic professional training, which equates to around 3,500 cooperative directors.

The project will provide vocational training for agricultural and rural workers; officials and employees working in enterprises, cooperatives and agricultural farms; vocational schools and employment service units in 13 Mekong Delta provinces.

The region thus will meet the needs of domestic and international labour markets and agricultural production will adapt to climate change.

It will improve productivity and income for agricultural workers in rural areas in the region.

To carry out the above tasks, concerned agencies will coordinate with localities in formulating a plan for vocational training and start-up for agricultural workers.

They will develop curricula, textbooks, learning materials and a list of training services for agricultural and rural occupations changing.

Vocational training schools will diversify forms of teaching, apply information technology to improve the professional capacity of rural workers.

Speaking at the workshop, representatives proposed to expand training scale in localities to create a force of professional farmers in many fields of agricultural production.

They suggested to improve knowledge and skills about the market and products consumption with value chains.

They also asked for more support to encourage agricultural and rural workers to participate in vocational training classes and programmes.

Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Hưng, deputy director of the Đồng Tháp Province Division of Rural Development, said that it was necessary to have priority policies to encourage occupation changing for young rural people, especially the ones transferred from agricultural production to other occupations.

She also suggested that the project should call for participation of employers such as enterprises, cooperatives and groups to coordinate with training schools to train workers suitable to the market demand. — VNS