The Chinese government launched a national vocational training program on Tuesday in an effort to help five million impoverished farmers find jobs and lift them out of poverty in the next five years.

Gu Xiulian, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, said at the launch ceremony that vocational training is a fundamental poverty alleviation method because it can increase poor people's income and ease conflict over the shortage of arable land in heavily-populated areas.

The program, dubbed "Rain and Dew Plan," is sponsored by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the leading organ in China's poverty reduction efforts.

The program aims to train laborers in poor areas and promote non-farming employment.

A school for training poor farmers was set up here on Tuesday. It will serve as the first model school for institutions in other regions.

More than 1,000 farmers from six provinces and regions including Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Henan, Tibet and Gansu have already registered at the Beijing school.

China has lifted more than 100 million of its poorest inhabitants out of poverty since it implemented a carefully-planned, large-scale campaign against rural poverty in 1986, statistics show.

However, 23.65 million people in China still don't have enough food and clothing.