Does internet technology usage improve food production? Recent evidence from major rice-producing provinces of China

Abstract

ICTs play an increasingly crucial role in ensuring food security and sustainable agricultural production, particularly in emerging economies. The majority of survey-based literature focuses on Internet use and farmers' income, technical efficiency of agricultural production, the economic well-being of smallholder farmers, and market information, respectively. The present study, on the other hand, investigates explicitly the long-term effects of Internet use on rice production using panel data from the main rice-producing provinces of China for the period 2011–2020. Other key factors of rice production included in this study are chemical fertilizer, sown area, power consumption, public spending, and labour force. Using the cross-sectional time-series FGLS approach to control endogeneity issues, the results show that Internet use improves rice production in the long run, while the remaining determinants (chemical fertilizer, sown area, power consumption, and public spending) stimulate rice production in the long run. The D-K-SE and MMQR approaches confirm the substantial impact of important factors of rice production. Policymakers should improve Internet access and encourage the use of modern techniques to increase rice output in China.