Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said Monday the nation needs more resources to conduct skills training of farmers and migrant workers.

The country should encourage more people and social resources to take part in charity projects in this field, Hui said at a ceremony to mark the 15th anniversary of a charity project run by the National Association of Vocational Education of China (NAVEC).

The NAVEC project has trained more than 6.4 million urban and rural needy people over the past 15 years.

Rural people who leave their hometown for cities should have more vocational skills while those staying at home should learn more farming techniques, Hui said.

Last year 145 million rural residents, or over one tenth of China's total population, left their hometown to work in cities.

The NAVEC project tries to help unemployed people in the countryside through skills training and vocational education, Hui said.

The association has financed about 430 million yuan (63.24 million U.S. dollars) for the project over the 15 years.