ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Impact and Mechanisms of Rural Digitization
on Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity
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College of Public Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Submission date: 2024-06-23
Final revision date: 2024-08-12
Acceptance date: 2024-08-23
Online publication date: 2024-10-23
Corresponding author
Weiguo Jiang
College of Public Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
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ABSTRACT
The green development of agriculture is very important for the low carbon and high-quality
development of agriculture. Improving agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) is the key
way to realize the green development of agriculture. Based on panel data from 27 provinces in China
from 2011 to 2022, the super-SBM and the entropy weight method were used to estimate AGTFP and
the rural digitization level (RD). The impact of rural digitization on AGTFP and its mechanisms was
demonstrated by using a fixed effect model, an intermediary effect, and a threshold effect model. Results
showed that: (1) AGTFP and RD in China have significantly improved during the research period; (2)
RD had a significant positive impact on AGTFP, that is, rural digitalization development can effectively
promote agricultural green development. From the perspective of heterogeneity analysis, rural
digitalization in eastern China has the strongest impact on agricultural green total factor productivity;
(3) Rural digitalization indirectly promotes AGTFP through the effects of scale operation, structure
optimization, and technological progress, among which the intermediary effect of technological
progress is the most prominent; (4) Rural digitalization development has a threshold effect on the
promotion of AGTFP; that is, the greater the RD, the greater the AGTFP. Therefore, the development
of rural digitalization should be accelerated, regional cooperation mechanisms should be established,
and agricultural technology progress should be promoted to improve agricultural green total factor
productivity and promote the high-quality development of agriculture in China.