Does the Application of ICTs Improve the Efficiency of Agricultural Carbon Reduction? Evidence from Broadband Adoption in Rural China

Pan Rao; Xiaojin Liu; Shubin Zhu; Xiaolan Kang; Xinglei Zhao; Fangting Xie

doi:10.3390/ijerph19137844

Does the Application of ICTs Improve the Efficiency of Agricultural Carbon Reduction? Evidence from Broadband Adoption in Rural China

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jun 26;19(13):7844. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19137844.

Authors

Pan Rao¹, Xiaojin Liu¹, Shubin Zhu², Xiaolan Kang², Xinglei Zhao¹, Fangting Xie^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Management and Economics, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China.
² Institute of Rural Development, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China.
³ College of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China.
⁴ Research Academy for Rural Revitalization of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China.

Abstract

Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, this paper examines whether rural broadband adoption affects agricultural carbon reduction efficiency (ACRE), using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2019. This paper achieves a measurement of ACRE by taking the carbon sink of agricultural as one of the desired outputs and using a Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model and the global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index. The results show that: (1) Rural broadband adoption has a positive effect on ACRE. The relationship between the income of rural residents and ACRE was an inverted U-shaped, which confirms the EKC hypothesis. (2) Land transfer has a significant promoting effect on the relationship between rural broadband adoption and ACRE. When the land transfer rate is high, the positive effect of broadband adoption is obvious. (3) The positive effect of broadband adoption on ACRE was more obvious when farmers invested more in production equipment, that is to say, it has a significant positive moderating effect. As farmers in many developing countries suffer from increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events, we believe that the results of this study also have implications for the implementation of agricultural carbon reduction and smart agricultural equipment roll-out in many countries.

Keywords: agricultural carbon reduction efficiency; broadband adoption; moderating effects; rural China.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Agriculture*
Carbon* / analysis
China
Economic Development
Efficiency
Farmers
Humans

Substances

Carbon

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42161053, 41701622 and 71840013), the Scientific Research Development Fund Project of Zhejiang A&F University (2022FR014), the Graduate Innovation Special Fund project of Jiangxi Province (Grant No. YC2021-B086) and Jiangxi Province Selenium-rich Agriculture Special Project 2021 (JXFXZD-2021-02).