Iraq - On Chinese farmers in Iraq

First I was a bit amazed, when I read in the China Daily that Chinese farmers had been taken hostage in Iraq. You do not expect farmer from Fujian province to look in Iraq for places to grow rice.
Most likely explanation is a translation problem. Those hostages come from a village in Pingtan county and are technically no urbanites, so they are 'farmers'. That makes it more than likely they were engaged in commercial activities other than farming.