Five million of China's 120 million farmers seeking jobs in
urban areas have returned to their homes and started their own
businesses, according to statistics from the Ministry of
Agriculture.
The returning workers have set up one fifth of the country's
rural enterprises, boosting rural economic growth and creating
jobs, said sources with the ministry.
Statistics show the five million new business owners employ 30
million people, each of whom earns 5,000 yuan (US$625) a year in
addition to their farming incomes.
Returned workers usually enter the processing industry, making
use of the resources in their hometowns with skills they have
acquired in cities, providing an impetus to agricultural
restructuring.
A ministry spokesman cited the case of Luo Zhiqi, from Shiban
Village, southwest China's Guizhou Province, who invested 30,000
yuan (US$3,750) in a brickyard in his hometown after returning from
south China's island province of Hainan, where he had been a
migrant worker.
Luo's factory produced bricks worth 1.2 million yuan (150,000
U.S. dollars) last year, with profits of 200,000 yuan
(US$25,000).
Analysts say the government should help returned workers start
their own businesses with easier access to bank loans and
training.
(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2006)