Agricultural Transformation Research Articles

Study on the Path of Enabling High-quality Agricultural Development in Anhui Province with New Quality Productivity

With the continuous progress of science, technology and society, new quality productivity is gradually becoming a strong support and internal driving force for high-quality development of agriculture, which is of great significance for transforming traditional agriculture and promoting agriculture to intelligent, low-carbon and modern transformation. With its "new" and "quality" as the fundamental, new quality productivity has the characteristics of high-tech, high efficiency, high quality, etc., and has a strong leading role in the all-round transformation of traditional agriculture. On the basis of reviewing the literature related to the new quality productivity and the agricultural development of Anhui province, this paper first put forward the author's interpretation of the connotation of new quality productivity, and then analyzed the conditions of Anhui province's transformation from a large agricultural province to a strong agricultural province. On this basis, it explored the path of enabling the high-quality agricultural development of Anhui province by new quality productivity. Finally, it is concluded that in order to achieve this goal, we must strictly implement the new development concept and promote the transformation of traditional agriculture to the direction of wisdom, ecology and industrialization.

Digital Transformation in Agriculture, Detection of Diseases on Tomato Leaves with Artificial Intelligence

Digital Transformation in Agriculture, Detection of Diseases on Tomato Leaves with Artificial Intelligence

Socio-economic impacts of commercialisation of agriculture in the Kingdom of Eswatini: A case of Siphofaneni

The transformation of subsistence agriculture into market-oriented production has been in the policy spotlight in many countries in the global South, including the Kingdom of Eswatini. Although agricultural commercialisation continues to gain popularity as a development strategy in the rural spaces of Eswatini, there is still lack of scientific evidence on its effectiveness in rural poverty alleviation and contribution to rural livelihoods and welfare. This study aims to contribute to the ‘agricultural commercialisation and poverty’ debate by exploring the socio-economic impacts of agricultural commercialisation in rural Eswatini. Among the key findings of the study was that the commercialisation project (in Siphofaneni) improved income levels, income sources, and employment opportunities of rural people in Siphofaneni. Access to food and food consumption patterns (meal frequency & diets) were also improved. The study concluded that agricultural commercialisation improved the welfare outcomes of rural households in Siphofaneni and reduced poverty levels for some households. The study has made a timely contribution by providing some illumination on the role and contribution of the country's agricultural commercialisation project with regards to the improvement of the living conditions of people in Eswatini. The study recommended that the government of Eswatini expands the project into other food-deficit and deprived rural areas of the country rather than confining it to the drought-prone areas of Siphofaneni.

Does government policy matter in the digital transformation of farmers’ cooperatives?—A tripartite evolutionary game analysis

Farmers’ cooperatives, as one of the new types of agricultural businesses, are an effective carrier for the digital transformation of agriculture, yet existing studies have paid less attention to how farmers’ cooperatives realize digital transformation. As agricultural economic organizations embedded in social networks, the digital transformation of farmers’ cooperatives requires the joint efforts of governments and companies. Based on the evolutionary game theory, this paper constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model of the government, digital technology companies and farmers’ cooperatives, and simulates and analyzes the behavioral decisions of different participants in the digital transformation of farmers’ cooperatives from the perspective of government policy. The results show: Medium government subsidies can effectively promote the digital transformation of farmers’ cooperatives, and strong subsidy policies increase the government’s financial burden, which is not conducive to policy sustainability. Strong government regulation facilitates digital technology companies to actively provide high-quality services for the digital transformation of farmers’ cooperatives, but government regulation does not have a significant impact on the strategic choices of the government and farmers’ cooperatives. When farmer cooperatives and digital technology companies are in a medium or high level of cooperative trust or when the number of labors saved by digital transformation reaches a certain level, farmers’ cooperatives opt for digital transformation even if the government withdraws from policy intervention.

Exploring the Chinese public's affective attitudes towards digital transformation in agriculture: A social media-based analysis.

This study utilizes natural language processing techniques and panel vector autoregression methodology, to delve into the perceived attitudes of social media users towards the digital transformation of agriculture, and to assess its impact on total agricultural output and agricultural science and technology inputs. Data related to agricultural digital transformation were collected from Sina Weibo using web crawlers. The SnowNLP model was employed to infer users' attitudes, encompassing both positive and negative aspects. Furthermore, the study delves into the specific themes capturing users' positive attitudes and explores regional variations in focus. The findings reveal a sustained increase in users' interest in agricultural digital transformation since 2013. Positive attitudes primarily center around green development, agricultural intelligence, and global cooperation and innovation. Moreover, the study establishes a significant positive impact of users' positive attitudes on both total agricultural output value and agricultural science and technology investment, highlighting the constructive influence of user support on the agricultural industry's development.

Study on the Effect of Digital Technology Adoption and Farmers’ Cognition on Fertilizer Reduction and Efficiency Improvement Behavior

Based on the field survey data for 1216 apple growers in three provinces from China’s Loess Plateau Region, this paper adopted Multivariate Probit (MVP) model and intermediary effect model to analyze the influence mechanisms of digital technology adoption (DTA) on farmers’ choices of Fertilizer-reduction and Efficiency-improving Technologies (FETs) from the perspective of farmers’ cognition (FC). The correlation effects of three typical FETs of soil testing and formula fertilization, integrated water-fertilizer fertilization and slow/controlled release fertilizer, were tested empirically. The results showed that DTA could significantly affect the adoption of FETs by apple growers, and FC played a partial mediating role, and there were complementary effects among the three typical FETs. The results were further confirmed by the propensity score matching (PSM) robustness test and the instrumental variable (IV) endogeneity test conducted in the conditional mixed-process (CMP). The results of our heterogeneity analysis showed that the promotion effect of DTA on FETs in the group with junior high school education or below was more significant than that in the group with higher education, and the promotion effect was more significant in the group with large operation scale. Therefore, the improvement in Internet penetration should not be taken as the ultimate goal, but more attention should be paid to farmers’ mastery and effective use of DTA, promote the improvement in farmers’ cognitive level, and implement the “bundled” publicity and guidance strategy of FETs adoption, so as to help in the green transformation of agriculture.

Enfoque metodológico para el aprovechamiento de mermas de transformación agrícola basado en manufactura esbelta: Caso de estudio en una finca cafetera en Colombia

Improvements in production systems that use the lean manufacturing approach known as “Lean” have the objective of eliminating or reducing waste or process inefficiencies (muda). This approach is increasingly adopted by different industrial sectors, including agriculture. Although Lean improvements are traditionally applied to existing processes from cultivation to distribution, opportunities to intervene in processing wastes (losses) are left aside. This article presents a methodological approach framed in five Lean principles, made up of six activities aimed at the design of new processes that make use of the losses generated by harvesting and agricultural transformation. The methodological approach is applied in a Colombian coffee farm where parchment coffee transformation processes are developed. A parallel losses composting process is designed that transforms defective, green, overripe beans, coffee pulp, mucilage and husk. The results show that by applying the methodological approach on the coffee farm, a level of losses transformation of 86% is achieved. Molting is also reduced for both the current parchment coffee production line and the composting line to 35% and 50% respectively. The main reductions are reprocessing and waiting times. Finally, a 30.3% reduction is obtained in the time of activities that do not add value, making both the current and proposed processes more efficient and with better delivery times.

Contribution of Agroecological Practices to Household Food Availability: A Case Study of Singida District

Globally, there are urgent calls for transformation of agriculture and food systems to address food unavailability, food insecurity and environmental challenges. Agroecological practices have been promoted as one of the solutions, which have potential to address these challenges. Nonetheless, there is limited evidence regarding the question whether agroecology can indeed enhance food availability among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania inclusive. Thus, the study was conducted to examines how the implementation of agroecological practices contribute to achieving food availability at household level by comparing between farmers who are members of Farmer Research Network (FRN) (implementers) and non-FRN farmers (non-implementers) using a case of Singida district. The study employed a cross-sectional research design, and an integration of both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods. Interviews involved a total of 160 respondents who were randomly selected from household sampling frameworks. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews were conducted to gather complementary data. On one hand, quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software whereby descriptive statistics and an inferential statistic (multiple linear regression) were determined. On the other hand, qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings revealed, more than half (68%) and 15% of FRN farmers were in the medium and high categories of implementation of agroecological practices, contrary to non-FRN farmers, the majority (76%) were in low and none in high categories respectively. Based on alaysed data, the most common applied practices by both FRN and non-FRN farmers were: (i) the use of organic fertilizers (farm yard manure and compost manure (96%); (ii) intercropping (88%); (iii) crop rotation (82%); and integration of crop and livestock (79%). In addition, results indicate a significant association between the level of implementation of agroecological practices and food availability (p-value = 0.000). FRNs’ farmers were food secure as compared to non-FRN farmers just due to campaign and capacity building training offered to them. There is a need for a capacity development program to speed up agroecological intensification for sustainable food systems. Thus, it is very essential for public and private organizations to develop capacity building strategies or programmes to impart farmers with knowledge and skills on agroecological revolution.

Spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of the crop water use efficiency in watersheds based on the water footprint.

Climate change has exacerbated the contradiction between water scarcity and sustainable agricultural development. Assessing the crop water use efficiency and its influencing factors could provide a decision-making reference to realize Sustainable Development Goal 2. By analyzing the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of the crop water footprint, the blue water footprint, green water footprint, and grey water footprint were introduced into the super efficiency slack-based measure model to evaluate the crop water use efficiency in basins. The influence of the driving factors was examined by using the geographic detector model. The situation in the provinces along the Yellow River Basin from 2005 to 2020 was used as a verification case. The results indicated that (1) during the study period, crop water use in the basin was mainly based on the blue water footprint, accounting for approximately 55% of the total water footprint, the grey water footprint, accounting for approximately 30% of the total water footprint, and the green water footprint, accounting for the lowest proportion, at approximately 15%. (2) The crop water use efficiency exhibited a spatial distribution pattern of high values in the east and low values in the west, with obvious upstream provinces<midstream provinces<downstream provinces regional characteristics. (3) The driving factors of crop water use efficiency changes could be ranked as follows: effective irrigation rate (0.75) > disposable income of rural residents (0.71) > population urbanization rate (0.65) > degree of agricultural mechanization (0.63) > agricultural disaster rate (0.61). Furthermore, the interaction effects between the driving factors were greater than the effects of the single factors. The study provides an important reference for understanding the changes, driving mechanisms, and impacts of crop water use efficiency in basin areas. It promotes green agricultural transformation and development to address climate change and alleviate the pressure on water resources.

Agricultural Development Model and Transformation in Gaum Village, Tasikmadu Subdistrict, Karanganyar Regency

Agricultural Development Model and Transformation in Gaum Village, Tasikmadu Subdistrict, Karanganyar Regency

Factors of Agricultural Transformation in Nepal

The fundamental challenge of developing countries like Nepal is the need to modernize traditional agriculture in order to establish it as a key sector to kick off the growth of other sectors of the economy. Therefore, this paper has assessed the present state of agricultural development in Nepal to identify the major areas for reform. This paper adopted review and a descriptive analysis of the available official data from various government documents and research papers. The analysis has revealed that agricultural growth has been slow and that the contribution of the agriculture sector to GDP is also decreasing. The overall investment in the agricultural sector has been insufficient, resulting in numerous other issues, such as high productivity gaps, persistent food insecurity, and agricultural trade deficits. A concerted effort is required to achieve an agricultural transformation in Nepal, encompassing all the major sectors of agricultural growth. It is unlikely that the burgeoning problems of the Nepalese economy will be solved in the near future without the radical transformation of the agricultural sector.

Study on the Mitigation Effect and Promotion Mechanism of Agricultural Digitalization on the Agricultural Land Resource Mismatch

The objective of this research is to explore the impact mechanism of agricultural digital transformation in alleviating the mismatch of agricultural land resources and provide an effective path for the formation of new quality agricultural productivity. Using the balance panel data of 29 provinces in China from 2011 to 2022, this paper analyzed the mitigation effect and mechanism of agricultural digitalization on agricultural land resource misallocation from the perspectives of land scale management and agricultural socialization services. The results indicate that agricultural digitalization can alleviate the misallocation of agricultural land resources, promote the large-scale management of agricultural land, and improve the level of agricultural socialization services, all significant ways to reduce the mismatch of agricultural land resources. The heterogeneity test showed that the mitigation effect of agricultural digitalization on the agricultural land resource mismatch in eastern and central China and major grain-producing areas was better than that in western China and non-major grain-producing areas. Hence, we ought to strengthen the construction of agricultural digital infrastructures and play into the role of agricultural land scale management and agricultural socialization services in slowing down the mismatch of agricultural land resources.

Legal support for the transformation of agriculture in Russia and China

Legal support for the transformation of agriculture in Russia and China

How does the digital transformation of agriculture affect carbon emissions? Evidence from China’s provincial panel data

Agriculture is becoming a substantial contributor to carbon emissions in China, and the efficient reduction of agricultural carbon emissions (ACEs) has become a universal concern. Currently, the digital transformation of agriculture (DTA) provides a new way to reduce carbon emissions. However, questions regarding whether and how DTA suppresses ACEs remain the focus of both academic and practical attention; thus, they serve as the objectives of this study. Based on theoretical analyzes, the carbon emission reduction effect of DTA is empirically analyzed using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces between 2015 and 2021 with a benchmark regression model, mediating effect model and threshold effect model. The results show the following: (1) DTA significantly reduces ACEs. (2) DTA reduces ACEs through three paths: expanding the agricultural production scale, optimizing the agricultural industrial structure, and promoting agricultural technological progress. The agricultural industrial structure has the most considerable mediating effect, while the agricultural production scale expansion has the smallest effect. (3) The inhibitory effect of DTA on ACEs shows very distinct heterogeneity. DTA primarily reduces ACEs in eastern and nongrain production areas yet has an insignificant impact on other areas. In addition, the DTA has a significant inhibitory effect on ACEs from both fertilizers and diesel oil. (4) The inhibitory effect of DTA on ACEs is nonlinear rather than linear. There is a single threshold effect for the effect of DTA on ACEs, which is insignificant below the threshold and significantly negative above the threshold. Therefore, China’s central and local governments need to increase the level of DTA, encourage farmers to moderately expand the scale of their operations, emphasize the agricultural service industry, and enhance agricultural technological innovation to ultimately reduce ACEs.

Impact of contract farming on green technological efficiency of farmers: a comparative study of two contract organizational models

IntroductionEngaging in contract farming represents a crucial avenue for developing countries to integrate small farmers into modern agricultural practices. Existing research believes that contract farming offers a promising opportunity for fostering sustainable agricultural development. However, insufficient attention has been directed toward investigating the varying impacts of different organizational models within contract farming on farmers' transition to green production practices.MethodsThis study investigates the impact of contract farming on green technological efficiency of farmers using survey data from 719 wheat growers in Shandong Province, China. The propensity score matching method and multiple mediation effects models are employed for empirical analysis.ResultsThe organizational model plays a pivotal role in determining whether participation in contract farming can improve the green technological efficiency of farmers. Participation in an integrated model demonstrates a significant effect on improving green technological efficiency, whereas participation in a quasi-integrated model does not show a significant improvement. Integrated contract farming can improve green technological efficiency through expanding the degree of land consolidation and enhancing the level of productive service, whereas quasi-integrated contract farming improves green technological efficiency only by enhancing production intensification. As an economic incentive measure, the effect of contract purchase price on strengthening the enhancement of green technological efficiency in the quasi-integrated model is moderate only when the contract purchase price exceeds the local average selling price of wheat by more than 19.3%. Conversely, the moderate effect of farmers' dividend income in the integrated model remains consistent, with higher dividend incomes correlating with a stronger moderating effect.DiscussionThe impact of contract farming on green technology efficiency correlates significantly with the organizational model. Compared with the quasi-integrated contract farming model, the integrated model distinctly excels in advancing farmers' green technology efficiency, evidenced by its ability to consolidate fragmented land, provide productive services, and offer economic incentives. Therefore, to unlock the latent potential of contract farming in driving agricultural green transformation, a shift toward organizational models with higher levels of integration is essential.

The agricultural transformation of Brazil’s Cerrado is influencing the diversity and distribution of tadpoles via lentification

The agricultural transformation of Brazil’s Cerrado is influencing the diversity and distribution of tadpoles via lentification

Research on the Dilemma and Optimization Strategy of Rural Digital Governance under the Urban-Rural Co-Governance Pattern

Under the concept of "co-construction, joint governance and sharing", digital technology has become an important driving force for the co-governance of urban and rural communities, which is of great significance to improve the modernization level of governance. At the same time, the digital transformation of rural governance can promote the digital transformation of rural agriculture, ecology, governance, culture, life style and other aspects, and promote the process of agricultural and rural modernization. On the basis of practical investigation, this topic uses AHP-SWOT analysis to comprehensively analyze the influencing factors and strategic choices of rural digital governance, and discusses the application scenarios of digital governance combined with factor analysis, and puts forward an optimization strategy for how to effectively promote rural digital governance at the present stage. This paper aims to explore how digital technology can promote the improvement of rural governance level, and provide practical inspiration for the government's governance decisions in rural life and production.

Research on the spatio-temporal coupling relationship between agricultural green development efficiency and food security system in China

Food security and agricultural green development are fundamental issues concerning the survival of mankind. To realize the coordinated development of them is of great significance to promote the green transformation of agriculture and ensure national food security. However, few studies have analyzed the coupling relationship between agricultural green development and food security. Therefore, this study complements the research on the coupling relationship between them. First, we use the agricultural panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2010 to 2021 to measure the agricultural green development efficiency and food security level by Super-SBM model and entropy weight method. Then, the coupling relationship and spatiotemporal evolution of the two are analyzed by coupling coordination degree model. The results show that, first of all, China's agricultural green development efficiency and food security level have improved overall, but there are regional differences. Secondly, the degree of coupling and coordination between the two is significantly improved, and most provinces develop from the break-in stage to the coordination stage, and the regional differences are relatively reduced. Finally, Beijing, Shanghai and other developed areas are mostly of the lagging food security type, Liaoning, Shandong and other major grain producing areas have reached a high degree of coordination, while Tibet, Qinghai and other western regions are still in the break-in stage. According to the development situation of different regions, corresponding suggestions are put forward. For regions with lagging food security type, the government should give full play to the application of science and technology in agriculture and promote green and low-carbon planting technologies. For regions with low coupling and coordination degree, the government should improve support policies and build a collaborative operation system, adjust planting structure to improve land utilization rate and food security level. Finally, the government should work together to build agricultural industrial parks and give full play to the leading role of competitive provinces to achieve common development.

Effects of Agrivoltaics on the Microclimate in Horticulture

Chilean agriculture must adapt to climate change as droughts are already affecting the country and water availability is expected to further decline. In this context, Agrivoltaics (AV) systems, that install photovoltaic (PV) panels over crops and thus provide shading and an altered microclimate could enhance the resilience of agriculture in semi-arid zones. We compare data measured under an AV system with a reference measurement to quantify the effects of AV on microclimate in horticulture in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile. Data on irradiation, air temperature, air humidity, and wind speed allow us to compute potential evapotranspiration (PET). We observe a reduction of Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI) under the AV system of 42%. Mainly, as a result of the decreased GHI, we derive a diminution in PET of 31%, quantifying the potential to lower the water demand of crops and thus irrigation. Measured soil moisture is on average 29% higher under the AV system compared to the reference condition, hence validating PET computations. Also, we find a more moderate climate with slightly stabilized air temperature and lower soil temperatures. Our results give a glimpse of the effects of installing PV panels over horticulture crops concerning the challenges of Chilean agriculture. AV systems have the potential to increase water availability by lowering irrigation demand and protecting crops from the effects of extreme irradiation, such as sunburn and heat stress. Thus, AV could foster the transformation of agriculture towards sustainable production systems. The documented effects should be verified over longer periods with different crops to understand the impact of AV within seasonal and interannual climatical variation and the diversity of Chilean agriculture.

Complementary technology adoption and smallholder commercialization: Panel data evidence from Ethiopia

AbstractAgricultural transformation involves the transition from subsistence agriculture marked by cultivating crops for auto‐consumption to cultivating crops for output markets. This transition from subsistence agriculture to market‐oriented agriculture can be a key policy boost to economic development, but evidence on the key entry points to increasing smallholder commercialization remains scarce. We examine the relationship between the adoption of improved maize varieties (IMVs), inorganic fertilizers, and smallholder commercialization. We model commercialization as a two‐step decision process involving market participation and the extent of participation (sales quantity) conditional on participation. Given these two related steps, we estimate a double‐hurdle model in both linear and non‐linear forms. Employing a three‐wave panel dataset from Ethiopia, we use the household fixed effects and correlated random effects model with the control function approach. We find the adoption of IMVs to be significantly associated with both market participation and the extent of participation. This relationship is also true for fertilizers, where we show a positive association between fertilizer use and commercialization. Given the seeming complementarity in the use of both IMVs and fertilizers, we further estimate their joint adoption. We use the multinomial endogenous switching regression model where we show greater commercialization gains under joint adoption. These findings are in line with a growing literature supporting the bundling of agricultural technologies. Given these insights, we provide empirical and policy support to the scaling of agricultural technologies as they have the potential to induce agricultural transformation by unlocking market opportunities.