Rural Information Research Articles

Analysis on the impact of internet use on residents' tourism consumption behavior and the mechanism of action.

Tourism consumption as a typical representative of service consumption, has strong comprehensiveness and driving force, continuously expanding new consumption upgrade space. In the context of the digital economy, the development of the mobile internet has opened up new opportunities for the tourism industry acting as an important factor influencing the consumer behaviour of the residents. Based on 9007 resident survey data from the China General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2017, this paper explores the relationship between Internet use, access to information and residents' travel consumption behavior by means of probit model and mediating effect model. First, according to the findings, Internet use has a positive impact on residents' travel consumption behavior, increasing residents' tourism expenditure. Second, the mechanism suggests that access to information plays a partially mediating role between Internet use and travel consumption behavior. Third, further analysis revealed that, for the retired population, the more frequently they use the Internet, the more likely they are to spend on travel. Compared to those with lower incomes, those with higher incomes will spend less on travel after retirement. With this in mind, in order to promote residents' tourism consumption, speed and fee reduction should be continuously promoted, urban and rural information infrastructure should be strengthened, and accessibility of tourism information for residents should be improved. At the same time, there is a need to innovate the way tourism products are promoted, improve the types of tourism products and launch diversified tourism products.

Internet-Based Information Acquisition, Technical Knowledge and Farmers’ Pesticide Use: Evidence from Rice Production in China

The overuse of pesticides has led to serious ecological and environmental degradation, largely due to the lack of effectiveness of agricultural-extension services. In recent years, an increasing number of farmers have tended to acquire technical information from the Internet. In this context, the present study analyzes the impact of Internet-based information acquisition on pesticide use and the mediating role of farmers’ technical knowledge. For this purpose, the treatment-effects model and survey data covering 1113 rice farmers in Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces in China were utilized. The results indicate that Internet-based information acquisition could significantly reduce the intensity of pesticide use by 2.036 kg/ha, accounting for the self-selection issue. Further analysis illustrates that farmers’ technical knowledge plays a significant mediating role in the negative impact of Internet-based information acquisition on pesticide-use intensity. In addition, the impacts of Internet-based information acquisition on pesticide-use intensity are heterogeneous across different education levels or rice-sown areas. Thus, the present study suggests that efforts should be made to accelerate the construction of rural information infrastructure networks to broaden smallholder farmers’ access to technical information from the Internet platforms, promote “Internet plus” agricultural-extension services, and improve farmers’ skills in using the Internet.

A social reproductive perspective into rural e-commerce and internet history in China

The history of the internet, whether in China or elsewhere in the world, is often told through the stories of successful and often publicly listed companies, state policy initiatives and chronology, or prominent individuals and groups such as tech company founders and influential social and political activists. This short essay tells a different story of the Chinese internet history in the past 30 years from a social reproductive perspective, centering on rural e-commerce and families caught in between the rural-urban divide, against the wider currents of the state’s rural informatization campaign, Chinese Big Techs’ expansion into the countryside, and ongoing transformation in urbanization and rural-urban conversion. The goal is to move beyond a techno-determinist, individualized, and male-centric framework of analyzing digital media and the internet to adopt a materialist, feminist, and substantivist approach.

Spatial–Temporal Evolution and Driving Factors of Agricultural Green Development in China: Evidence from Panel Quantile Approaches

Agricultural green development has become essential for sustainable agriculture and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. This study evaluates the total index of agricultural green development by applying the entropy method; it then examines the spatial–temporal evolution of agricultural green development and finally uses the panel quantile model to examine the driving factors of agricultural green development in China. The results indicate that the level of agricultural green development is rising with time, and the differences among the regions have not changed, showing an increasing direction from west to east. The results from the panel quantile regression with nonadditive fixed effects show that the driving factors have different impacts on agricultural green development across quantiles. Industrial structure upgrading, rural informatization, and agricultural marketization have more significant effects in provinces with higher agricultural green development; agricultural finance and the per capita GDP have greater impacts in provinces at a moderate level of agricultural green development; and technology development, rural informatization, and the urbanization rate play a more important role in provinces at a lower level of agricultural green development. Thus, each province should devise policies according to its level of agricultural green development, which would be beneficial in improving the policies’ effectiveness.

The influence mechanism analysis on the farmers’ intention to adopt Internet of Things based on UTAUT-TOE model

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are widely recognized as one of the most important infrastructures for economic development and technological innovation. By analyzing the influencing factors of vegetable farmers’ intention to adopt agricultural IoT, it helps to formulate effective IoT promotion policies and accelerate the realization of agricultural modernization. Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) theory, this study constructed for the first time a mechanism model of the influence of vegetable farmers’ intention to adopt IoT, expanding the scope of current research on agricultural IoT and revealing the intrinsic influence mechanism of farmers’ adoption of IoT technologies. In this study, 357 quantitative data were obtained by a questionnaire survey, and structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects of each factor on vegetable farmers’ intention to adopt IoT. The results show that almost all variables in TOE have significant direct impacts on the intention, while no variables in UTAUT have significant direct impacts. Among variables in TOE, government support and complexity are the two most important elements influencing the intention. Although the interactions among variables in TOE and UTAUT are also found, the indirect effects of variables are non-significant. Therefore, it is proposed to reduce the complexity of operation and use of IoT technologies; improve rural information infrastructure and compatibility of IoT platforms and devices; and governments should increase subsidies, and incentives to promote the use of IoT in agriculture and agricultural practices.

Digital Village Construction Right Research on the Impact of Digital Literacy among Rural Residents

In the current era of digitalization, the creation of digital villages has become a major driving force behind rural rehabilitation, as well as a crucial component of modernizing rural areas and agriculture. Given how quickly the digital economy is growing, digital literacy is now a fundamental skill that every person should possess. By fostering and enhancing the digital literacy of rural communities, it is possible to close the digital divide that exists between urban and rural areas, generate endogenous motivation, enhance digital production, and achieve rural rejuvenation. China's rural resident's digital literacy practice there are still more problems. This paper deeply analyzes the connotation and characteristics of digital village construction and expounds that there are obstacles to the improvement of rural residents' digital literacy, such as imperfect digital infrastructure and weak digital awareness of rural residents. Finally, this paper puts forward corresponding suggestions for rural residents to improve their digital literacy: The first point involves bolstering the development of rural infrastructure to enhance the digital hard power of the countryside, and the second point is to promote communication between urban and rural informatization.

Kurdistan Rural Information System Platform, as a New Rural Innovation Paradigm: Local Decision-Makers Perspective

Background: This study aimed to achieve objectives through SWOT analysis and focus group discussion, identifying internal and external factors through the local decision-makers in Kurdistan Region, to explore the way to describe and analyze Kurdistan Rural information System Platform (KRISP). Problems with information in rural areas still exist in the Kurdistan region administration. The aim of this study is an attempt to develop a digital platform that will help rural communities realize their full potential and contribute to a resilient and successful digital future. The primary objectives of this project are how to design and implement an agricultural information system to collect rural data from various areas by various farmers and make it available online so that future users may eventually search for and obtain the essential data. The first category is concerned with knowledge sharing, information exchange, self-improvement, and self-improvement for grassroots extension practitioners. The study made use of qualitative data, with fixed questions. for the analysis. The achievement of primary data was also collected using a FGD’s implemented in Sulaimani governorates. The period of data collection from different study areas starting from June 2023 to September 2023 and were used in this study to collect qualitative data from a variety of government sectors (decision-makers) from various organizations were included in group discussions and gatherings to address the issues highlighted in this study.

Activity Theory Study of China’s Rural Book House Project

This study explores why China’s rural information projects tend to be inefficient by identifying the dynamic mechanisms driving the construction and development of China’s Rural Book House Project (RBHP). A qualitative survey was used to collect data from 35 participants in the RBHP and to analyze the data through the lens of activity theory. Two dynamic mechanisms were found, namely power coordination and benefit protection, with the former characterized by compulsion, self-interest, and inefficient punitive measures and the latter by the participants’ differing objectives when pursuing benefits. The interaction of these mechanisms drove the RBHP forward. The findings of the study suggest the development process of the RBHP and other similar projects need to be reanalyzed from an integrative, dynamic and connected perspective. By way of concluding, insights concerning the measures the Chinese government could take to resolve the issues confronted in rural information service development as well as the need for information professionals to take a critical stance toward their community practice are offered.

How Does Information Acquisition Ability Affect Farmers’ Green Production Behaviors: Evidence from Chinese Apple Growers

Green production is crucial in promoting sustainable agricultural practices, ensuring food safety, and protecting the rural ecological environment. Farmers, as the main decision makers of agricultural production, and their green production behaviors (GPBs), directly determine the process of agricultural green development. Based on the survey data of 656 apple growers in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in 2022, this paper uses a graded response model to measure the information acquisition ability (IAA) of farmers and constructs an ordered Logit model to empirically explore the influence mechanisms of IAA, green benefit cognition (GBC), and new technology learning attitude (NTLA) on farmers’ GPBs. The results show the following: (1) IAA has a significantly positive impact on the adoption of GPBs by farmers, and farmers with a high IAA are more conscious to adopt green production technologies; (2) in the process of IAA affecting farmers’ adoption of GPBs, GBC plays a positive mediating role; (3) NTLAs have a positive moderating effect on the process of GBC affecting farmers’ GPB adoption; (4) there are generational, educational and regional differences in the impact of IAA on farmers’ GPBs. Policy makers should improve rural information facilities, strengthen agricultural technology promotion and training, improve farmers’ IAA and benefit awareness level, and formulate relevant policies to mobilize farmers’ enthusiasm for learning new technologies.

Comprehensive Evaluation of the Development Level of Rural Logistics in China from the Perspective of Rural Revitalization

Taking the perspective of rural revitalization, this study constructs an index system for the development level of rural logistics. Based on data from the year 2021, the entropy method is employed to calculate scores for each index, thus providing a comprehensive evaluation of the current status of rural logistics development in China. The results indicate that the overall level of rural logistics development in China is on an upward trend with robust developmental momentum. However, challenges such as supply and demand imbalances, unfavorable conditions, slowing speed, and inappropriate structure exist. The spatial layout of rural logistics development exhibits a decreasing trend from the southeast coastal areas to the central, northern, and western regions. It is suggested that enhancing rural economic levels, improving rural infrastructure, addressing imbalances in rural logistics supply and demand, and promoting rural informatization are the main strategies for developing rural logistics in China.

Study on the Development Status and Countermeasures of Rural E-commerce Logistics in the Context of Rural Revitalization

Since the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, China's rural e-commerce logistics industry scale is gradually growing, e-commerce platforms are gradually emerging in rural areas, becoming an important engine of rural economic development, rural e-commerce logistics demand has seen a blowout growth, agricultural products, "upstream" channel needs to be expanded. This paper takes China's rural e-commerce logistics as the research object, through analyzing the development status quo of China's rural e-commerce logistics under the background of rural revitalization, and pointing out that China's rural e-commerce logistics development is currently faced with such problems as imperfect infrastructure, inefficient distribution of goods, the lack of professional logistics management personnel, and the low level of logistics informationization. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of rural logistics infrastructure, improve the level of rural informatization, strengthen the training of rural e-commerce logistics personnel and promote the implementation of the common distribution model of logistics enterprises, in order to promote the construction of the rural e-commerce logistics system, so as to help realize the revitalization of the countryside.

UTILIZATION OF TRADITIONAL MODES OF COMMUNICATION BY COMMUNITY BASED INSTITUTIONS IN BENDE LGA, ABIA STATE, NIGERIA

The study investigated Utilization of Traditional Modes of Communication by Community Based Institutions in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. The research sought to investigate the utilization of the six major traditional modes of communication mainly used in rural areas such as the gong, drama presentation, folktales/proverbs and storytelling, dances and songs, town crier and talking drum and how these traditional modes of communication are jointly utilized in dissemination of information to rural populace in the communities under study. The exploratory survey research design was adopted because of the nature of the research. The instrument for data collection was a modified likert form questionnaire with twenty six (29) question items divided into sections A and B. A total of 450 copies of questionnaire were distributed three communities studied, which are Igbere community (150), Item Community (150) and Alayi Community (150). Four hundred and twenty (420) copies were returned; however, three hundred and ninety-six (396) were duly completed and found to be usable for this study, and thus, this amounted to 85.8% response rate. Data analysis was done with mean scores drawn from Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) with 2.5 mean score as the significant level. The study reveals that traditional modes of communication are positively used by community based institutions as they find it very appeasing, mostly for the fact that it enables them in the delivery of fast and efficient communication. It is also easy to understand. The research recommends among other things that the traditional modes of communication need to be maintained as they are part of our identity in rural information service delivery, other ways of communication might be introduced, such as using public address system, this culture needs to be maintained as it is necessary for so many cultural orientations of the rural communities, town criers should be trained to be able to use modern techniques of information delivery for effective rural information service delivery.

Effect of agriculture–tourism integration on in situ urbanization of rural residents: evidence from 1868 counties in China

Purpose This study aims to clarify the impact of agriculture–tourism integration (ATI) on in situ urbanization (ISURB) of rural residents, to highlight the role of industrial integration in the process of China's ISURB and to provide industrial integration suggestions for promoting urbanization quality in Chinese counties.Design/methodology/approach By sorting out the panel data of China's 1868 counties, the evaluation index system of ISURB was constructed. Difference in difference (DID) and spatial Durbin-difference in difference (SDM-DID) model is used for estimate the relationship between ATI and ISURB.Findings First, ATI can improve ISURB by 11.4% higher than other regions. Second, theoretical analysis model of ATI on ISURB is constructed from four aspects of “drive–push–pull–block.” The results show that ATI can promote ISURB by increasing upgrading of rural industries, rural employment demand and income capacity, whereas ATI may inhibit ISURB by reducing farmland. Third, considering changes in institutional, hard and soft factors, rural collective economy, information infrastructure and digital finance all promote positive impact of ATI on ISURB. Fourth, ATI will produce spillover effects on ISURB in neighboring regions, which is more pronounced in the central and western regions.Research limitations/implications This study lacks quantification of ATI, so future studies are encouraged to further quantify ATI at the county level.Practical implications This study has policy significance for constructing ATI demonstration counties and promoting ISURB in China's counties.Social implications It is of great practical value to promote China's ISURB. By stimulating ATI, it can improve income and employment capacity of rural residents and stimulate ISURB of China.Originality/value This study enriches the theoretical and practical research on industrial integration behaviors during the process of ISURB.HighlightsUse county data to measure in situ urbanization (ISURB)Agriculture–tourism integration (ATI) can increase ISURBConstructs a “drive-push-pull-block” model to explain the influence mechanismUse spatial Durbin-difference in difference (SDM-DID) modelsConsider collective economy, rural information infrastructure and digital financeGraphical abstract

Promoting or inhibiting: the impact of China's urban-rural digital divide on regional environmental development.

Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2013 to 2020, this paper uses the panel fixed effect model and threshold regression method to systematically examine the impact of the urban-rural digital divide on regional environmental development from the perspective of technological innovation and human capital. The study found that the urban-rural digital divide significantly inhibited regional environmental development; however, this inhibitory effect will be substantially reduced in technological innovation and human capital adjustment. Furthermore, technological innovation and human capital have played a significant single threshold effect in the impact of the urban-rural digital divide on regional environmental development. When technological innovation and human capital cross the corresponding threshold value, the adverse effects of the urban-rural digital divide on the regional environment will be alleviated. Therefore, it is suggested to strengthen the construction of rural information infrastructure; research and develop key technologies for ecological protection and environmental governance; build an ecological environment science and technology innovation system; and promote the sharing of human resources in the region and the ability of rural residents to apply digital resources and digital technology.

Research on Information Poverty in Ethnic Border Regions

The information revolution has ushered in a new era of information and economy, with information resources becoming a key resource for regional economic strength and core competitiveness. In the process of informatization in China, there is a significant gap between the central and western regions and the eastern regions in terms of information infrastructure, information resource transmission and acquisition capabilities, information resource utilization and development potential, and information industry development. Therefore, information differentiation and the digital divide have also become important factors leading to the wealth gap in the information age. Against the backdrop of promoting the development of poverty-stricken areas and rural revitalization strategies, the issue of information poverty among the vast rural population in the western region, especially in ethnic border areas, cannot be ignored. To solve the problem of information poverty in ethnic border areas, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of rural information environment, improve farmers’ information literacy, strengthen the construction of information service talent team, and improve the effectiveness of information services.

The promotion path of high-quality development of rural tourism based on intelligent cloud platform system

Abstract With the continuous development of the economy and the level of science and technology, people are no longer satisfied with the old rural tourism model, and information technology is developing rapidly, which brings an opportunity for developing rural tourism innovation. As a product of the comprehensive development of the information age in recent years, “Internet+Rural Tourism” builds an intelligent cloud platform for rural information services relying on big data and other advantages and establishes a rural intelligent tourism service system to provide convenient, intelligent, and diversified services for tourists. This paper elaborates on the practical significance of “Internet + rural tourism” development opportunities”. It proposes to scientifically calculate the environmental capacity of rural eco-tourism areas, control the scale of visitors and reasonably invest in costs because of the problems of lagging infrastructure facilities and limited distribution of inputs and outputs in the process of its development. The results of this paper show that the satisfaction level of rural tourism tourists is the lowest, with the degree of “dissatisfaction” as high as 38.40%; in the rating of rural tourism indicators, the rating of rural ecological environment is only 52.41, the average rating of rural economic indicators is 60.12, and the average rating of comprehensive management indicators is 58.2. The results of this paper also illustrate that the current rural tourism development has three major problems: environment, economy, and management and that rural tourism should not blindly invest high costs if it wants to seek high-quality development but should seek long-term development of rural tourism based on its characteristics and rural ecological environment indicators.

A study on the influencing factors and related paths of farmer’s participation in food safety governance—based on DEMATEL-ISM-MICMAC model

Farmers' participation in food safety governance is an important part of food safety social co-governance, and the accurate identification of its influencing factors and their related paths is of guiding significance to the scientific decision-making of food safety governance. The system of influencing factors of farmers' participation in food safety governance was constructed from four dimensions, and the influence network of each dimension was revealed by decision laboratory analysis (DEMATEL). The hierarchical structure and correlation path of influencing factors were determined by interpretive structural model (ISM), and the attributes of influencing factors were further classified by cross influence matrix multiplication (MICMAC). The results show that the influencing factors of farmers' participation in food safety governance can be divided into seven levels, among which the level of education and the status of village cadres are the fundamental characteristic factors. The degree of rural informatization, the intensity of government supervision, the promotion of village committees, the response of the government and the degree of disclosure of government information are the deep core factors, and risk cognition, political trust and family eating habits are special factors. Taking the importance and attribute status of farmers' participation in food safety governance into decision-making considerations is of great significance to improve the efficiency of food safety governance.

Potential of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Livestock Development: A Review

In most developing nations, including India, agricultural extension services are mostly focused on crop husbandry, but public sector animal husbandry activities are frequently dominated by animal breeding and health services. ICT has been widely employed in the study and enhancement of numerous elements of livestock production, research, and education in the United States and worldwide. Specifically, ICT is becoming more important in livestock disease control, dairy herd management, livestock production, and livestock and livestock product marketing. However, the success of ICT in livestock promotion or related areas is dependent on a number of factors, including farmer adoption of ICT, the political and policy environment, farmer education, ICT penetration rate, ICT infrastructure (such as connectivity), and the Rural Information Model etc. So, this paper throws light on the points of such capabilities of ICT for Livestock Development.

VILLAGE GOVERNMENT LEGAL POLICIES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY-BASED PUBLIC SERVICES

The legal policy of the village government in information technology-based public services, in general, is currently not running optimally. Even though technological developments must be utilized by all elements of society including the village government, several programs can be carried out include such as E-Village, village fund information, village websites, and being able to develop applications that can be used to provide public services to village communities and so on. The research aims to find out whether information technology-based integrated criminal justice system policies can become an instrument for eradicating corruption. The research method used is normative legal research with statutory approaches, theoretical approaches, and comparative and conceptual approaches. The findings in this study are that first, the village government law as stipulated in Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages, cannot be fully explained by village officials, including utilizing technological advances in maximizing public services for the community, so that the community gets information and services that are easy. Second, developing an internet-based rural information network by building village websites with the desa.id domain, encouraging technology-independent villages, improving public services with the village partner application, and managing resources based on village profiles with resource surveys and geospatial data with the village granary application. see mitra.or.id) and build villages with interconnected systems and regulations that support villages to take development initiatives.

Edge computing driven sustainable development: A case study on professional farmer cultivation mechanism

AbstractNew‐type professional farmers are new‐type rural talents with scientific and cultural literacy and professional knowledge of agriculture under the background of rural revitalization. The new type of professional farmers is of great significance for accelerating agricultural modernization and promoting the construction of a powerful modern socialist country. In the process of cultivating new types of professional farmers in rural areas, it is necessary to break through the previous informatization constraints of poor information flow, and give full play to the role of advanced information technology to promote the sustainable economic development. This paper proposes a new type of professional farmer cultivation platform based on edge computing architecture to improve the cultivation efficiency of new type of professional farmers, so as to better promote the development of rural informatization. Aiming at the challenges of energy consumption under the edge platform architecture, this paper proposes a dynamic scheduling method for semi‐online tasks for edge computing platforms. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the algorithm, the method in this paper is compared with the classic scheduling algorithm, and simulated and verified on the CloudSim platform. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms other algorithms in the task completion time metric. With the expansion of task scale, more energy consumption can be saved by using the algorithm proposed in this paper.