Source: South China Morning Post

Farmers forced off the land and unable to find urban jobs should consider moving to Africa to become landlords and practise their agricultural skills, the head of the Export-Import Bank said this week.

Li Ruogu said Beijing would support farmers who migrated. Speaking at a meeting in Chongqing to address rural immigration, Mr Li said the city's planned experiment in rapid urbanisation would transform several million farmers into city residents, but finding them jobs would be a problem.

Chongqing embarked on fast-tracked urban development after the National Development and Reform Commission selected it in June to be an experimental zone for national urbanisation reform.

More than 12 million farmers will have to leave their land by 2020 under the city's plan.

"Construction of the 'experimental zone' will relocate several million peasants," Mr Li said, adding that Chongqing should consider organising migration to Africa.

"The bank will give full support to the farmers in terms of capital investment, project development and product-selling channels," he added.

"Chongqing is well experienced in agricultural mass production, while in Africa there is plenty of land but food production is unsatisfactory.

"There is huge room for co-operation on both sides. We have already supported several agricultural projects in Africa, all of which are generating very sound profits.

"Chongqing's labour exports have just started, but they will take off once we convince the farmers to become landlords abroad."

Chongqing deputy mayor Zhou Mubing said the authorities and businesses should encourage farmers to go overseas.

Regional governments have been sending farmers to Africa for years, with more than 13,000 rural people from Baoding in Hebei province leaving for the troubled continent in the past decade, establishing around 50 "Baoding villages" there.

Rising food prices are a key incentive for the migrant farmers. Tomatoes grown by Chinese farmers sell for 40 yuan per kg in Kenya and cabbages for 16 yuan, many times their price on the mainland.

There are no official figures on the number of Chinese farmers in Africa but the mainland's labour exports this year had grown by 33 per cent compared with last year, the Ministry of Commerce announced.