Search

The development of digital villages plays a critical role in advancing green agriculture steadily and with high quality. This study measures the efficiency of agricultural water resource allocation using provincial-level rural data from 2011 to 2022 and a super Slacks-Based Measure model accounting for non-desirable outputs. Using the ArcGIS tool, this study illustrates the spatiotemporal patterns and provincial clustering of the green allocation of agricultural water resources. A spatial Durbin model further examines interactions between digital villages and water resource efficiency. Findings indicate the following: (1) The green water resource efficiency in China's 30 provinces showed a gradual, steady increase, albeit with notable regional differences, particularly a "northwestern depression" in spatial distribution. (2) Moran's I index indicates a strong positive spatial correlation between digital villages and green water resource efficiency, manifested as either "high–high" or "low–low" clustering. (3) The spatial Durbin model results demonstrate that digital villages enhance the green water resource efficiency of neighboring areas, a phenomenon referred to as the "Matthew effect". (4) Different aspects of digital village construction, operation, and lifestyle positively influence green water resource efficiency, while digital loops have a negative impact. Aligning resource allocation efficiency with the establishment of digital village infrastructure is paramount. This symbiotic relationship bolsters the structural foundation of agricultural production, optimizing resource utilization and fostering technological advancements in rural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on experiences in China where rural development has reputedly been accelerated through use of its e-commerce platforms to create Taobao Villages, Chinese digital conglomerate Alibaba has sought to export its vision of "inclusive globalisation" to other economies in the Global South. Its initiatives intended to reduce inequality by specifically supporting small enterprises. Some research has already charted its multi-dimensional Electronic World Trade Platform approach. However, its more narrowly-focused Digital Villages approach, currently being implemented in Latin America, has still not been analyzed. Drawing on data from interviews and documentary sources, this article analyses the activities of Atomic88, an Alibaba subsidiary in Mexico, which (initially) focused on digitally-enabled development of small enterprise. It finds that Alibaba's nascent position in an e-commerce market dominated by US and Latin American platforms led it to follow a quite different path from the Chinese Taobao Village Model. It sought out the action areas – training and consultancy – that would not directly compete with incumbents, and worked as an indirect facilitator of local actors, rather than directly intervening. While short-term inequality-reduction impact of Alibaba's approach could be called into question, what it has done is build relationships with key digital economy stakeholders in Mexico. These show signs of providing valuable stepping stones toward a larger and more direct presence of Alibaba in the Mexican market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of digital villages plays a critical role in advancing green agriculture steadily and with high quality. This study measures the efficiency of agricultural water resource allocation using provincial-level rural data from 2011 to 2022 and a super Slacks-Based Measure model accounting for non-desirable outputs. Using the ArcGIS tool, this study illustrates the spatiotemporal patterns and provincial clustering of the green allocation of agricultural water resources. A spatial Durbin model further examines interactions between digital villages and water resource efficiency. Findings indicate the following: (1) The green water resource efficiency in China’s 30 provinces showed a gradual, steady increase, albeit with notable regional differences, particularly a “northwestern depression” in spatial distribution. (2) Moran’s I index indicates a strong positive spatial correlation between digital villages and green water resource efficiency, manifested as either “high–high” or “low–low” clustering. (3) The spatial Durbin model results demonstrate that digital villages enhance the green water resource efficiency of neighboring areas, a phenomenon referred to as the “Matthew effect”. (4) Different aspects of digital village construction, operation, and lifestyle positively influence green water resource efficiency, while digital loops have a negative impact. Aligning resource allocation efficiency with the establishment of digital village infrastructure is paramount. This symbiotic relationship bolsters the structural foundation of agricultural production, optimizing resource utilization and fostering technological advancements in rural settings.

As information and communication technologies gain prominence in rural areas, rural e-commerce has emerged as a crucial mechanism for fostering agricultural and rural development. While the economic impact of rural e-commerce is widely studied, its effects on carbon emissions remain underexplored. Utilizing a multi-period DID model and Chinese county-level panel data from 2011 to 2017, this paper examines the impact of rural e-commerce on carbon emission reduction, employing the "comprehensive demonstration of e-commerce into villages" policy introduced by the Chinese government in 2014 as a quasi-natural experiment. Our findings show that e-commerce demonstration counties experienced a 10.6% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the control group, indicating a significant emission reduction effect. Further analysis reveals that rural e-commerce drives carbon reduction through decreased fertilizer usage, altered cropping structures, and enhanced transportation efficiency. Notably, rural e-commerce's emission reduction effect is more pronounced in major grain-producing regions and areas with higher digitalization levels. This study has crucial theoretical and practical implications for achieving carbon emission reduction and sequestration in agriculture and advancing green agricultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Chinese provincial data from 2013 to 2020, this research constructed a fintech index and a digital index and analyzed the temporal and spatial coupling coordination status and driving factors of the two using a coupled coordination model. The results of the study were as follows. (1) In general, the comprehensive index of fintech and digital villages increased year by year in the time sequence and fell into fintech-dominated coupling. The divergence in space was significant, showing an overall decreasing trend from the eastern coastal areas to the central areas and western areas. (2) In terms of sequential characteristics, the coupling coordination between fintech and digital villages shifted into the stage of primary coordination, which was phased and rising and continued to grow during the examination period. (3) In terms of spatial characteristics, the degree of coupling coordination between fintech and digital villages was different and agglomerative, with a trend of "strong in the east, mediocre in the middle and poor in the west"; seven provinces and cities entered the intermediate coordination stage. (4) In terms of drivers, the levels of economic development, regional industrial structure, regional population density, and digital infrastructure had a positive influence on coupling coordination. (5) Conditional convergence existed in eastern, central and western China from the convergence test; also, the speed was faster than absolute convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Digital villages construction" and "high-quality economic development" are both key topics to the sustainable development in China. Chinese has attached great importance to agriculture and rural development in recent years, thus exploring the connections between the two topics from a rural perspective is of practical importance. This paper aims to see if there is a connection between digital village construction and high-quality economic development, and how the digital village construction accelerates the high-quality development of the rural economy. After building the index system, this paper evaluates present development level of digitalization and high-quality economy in rural areas by the Entropy Weight TOPSIS method and empirically tests the direct and indirect effect of rural digital construction on the high-quality rural economic development relatively based on the fixed effect model and the mediation effect model. To study deeply, four major regions and five influence paths are analyzed, respectively. The results show that there is a positive correlation between the construction of digital villages and the high-quality development of rural economy. Meanwhile, the entrepreneurial activity of digital industries is a crucial mechanism for digital villages construction to promote the high-quality development of rural economy. This paper innovatively builds relevant index systems and analyzes the transmission mechanism of digitalization to high-quality development from a rural perspective, though it analyzes at the provincial level, which is less specific. Overall, it will be beneficial for economics researchers who study digital economy and rural development and policy makers who give counsel for economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Shenzhen University Humanities & Social Sciences is the property of Journal of Shenzhen University (Humanities & Social Sciences) Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study investigated access to and use of information by local communities in Mukuru and Kangundo digital villages with a view of proposing measures that will enhance the usability of the digital villages as a source of information. The study was informed by information chain model whose key elements: local content, economic resources, social resources and action resources formed the basis for the research. Qualitative research approach with purposive sampling technique was used to identify the two digital villages and the respondents under the study. Data was collected from a sample size of 50 respondents consisting of 2 managers of the digital villages, 7 staff members, 40 users and 1 key informant using interview method. Observation and documentary analysis were used as secondary data collection method. Data analysis was done qualitatively and presented using direct excerpts, narrative explanations and supported by figures and tables. Findings show that local communities require all kinds of information in their day to day life with particular emphasis on agricultural and health information. However, there is a general observation that digital villages are not being used by local communities to access this information due to lack of technological know how, shortage of finances and the social perception of the digital villages. The study recommends review of the current digital village's model in order to enhance their usage as a source of information. This includes collaborating with local institutions to generate local content so as to meet the needs of local communities, marketing of digital villages as a source of information and improving quality of services offered in the digital villages. The study concluded that, access and use of information in the digital villages should be enhanced by addressing the challenges and adopting a new framework of implementation proposed under this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]