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How to trigger and strengthen the positive impact of the internet on the income of farmers in the region? A case from China

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Abstract

This paper explores how a region in a developing country can trigger and strengthen the positive impacts of the Internet on farmers’ income, using the case of flower and tree industry cluster in Shuyang County, Jiangsu Province, China. It finds that the combination of macro-level Internet popularization, micro-level Internet use, and local endowment conditions triggers the effect of the Internet on increasing farmers’ income. The case also shows that the continuous enhancement of this effect is essentially because internal supply can adapt to the continuous online migration of external demand and make creative adjustments, thereby achieving the cumulative fit of internal supply and external demand. This study can provide empirical evidence from China for the digital dividend issue in rural areas of developing countries, and provide a reference for developing countries to promote the role of the Internet in empowering farmers and increasing their incomes.

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Notes

  1. The concept of the Taobao Village was first defined by AliResearch (founded in April, 2007 and belonging to Alibaba Group) to refer to a large number of e-businesses in a village using Taobao as their main trading platform, based on the Taobao e-commerce system, thereby forming an Internet business cluster with agglomeration effects. A Taobao Village must have the following three features: first, the businesses must be based on rural areas, with the administrative village as the measurement unit; second, the annual e-commerce transaction volume in the village reaches 10 million yuan; third, the number of active online shops must exceed 100, or the proportion of active online shops must account for at least 10% of all households in the village. According to these three criteria, AliResearch has produced an annual list of Taobao Villages called the China Taobao Village Research Report, released at the end of each year. Villages that meet these criteria are awarded the honor of China Taobao Village.

  2. The Tang Dynasty was a unified Central Plains dynasty in Chinese history, lasting from AD 618 to AD 907. The Ming Dynasty was the last unified Central Plains dynasty (1368–1644) established by the Han nationality in Chinese history. The Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history, lasting from 1616 to 1912.

  3. Based on the concept of the Taobao Village, AliResearch further defined the Taobao Town, in which there are no less than three Taobao Villages.

  4. Baidu Post Bar is Baidu’s independent brand, and the world’s leading Chinese community. Baidu Post bar is a keyword-based topic communication community, closely integrated with Baidu search, accurately grasp the needs of users.

  5. Taobao, Tmall and 1688 are all e-commerce platforms owned by Alibaba Group, which mainly focus on B2B business, B2C business and B2B business respectively.

  6. Tencent is a very influential Internet company in China founded in November 1998. WeChat is a free app launched by Tencent to provide instant messaging services for smart devices. A Wechat store is a kind of e-commerce that operates through wechat rules and mechanisms.

  7. Jingdong is a comprehensive online retailer in China and is one of the most popular and influential e-commerce websites among consumers in China’s e-commerce field. Pinduoduo is a third-party social e-commerce platform in China focusing on C2B groups. Tiktok is a short video social software for creative music incubated by ByteDance. Kuaishou is one of the most popular short video and live streaming apps in China.

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Funding

The authors acknowledge funding support from Zhejiang Province Philosophy and Social Science planning “The 20th Party Congress and the 15th Provincial Party Committee of the Second Plenary Session of the Spiritual Research and Interpretation” special project (Pre-project No. 25), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. LQ23G030007), The Special Fund for Basic Scientific Research of Universities in Zhejiang Province (No. GK229909299001-216), and Statistical Science Research Base of Zhejiang Province (No. 23TJJD10).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Lili Li

  2. China Academy of Rural Development, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Linyi Zheng & Zhonggen Zhang

  3. Hangzhou International Urbanology Research Center & Zhejiang Urban Governance Studies Center, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Yixiang Song

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  1. Lili Li
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Correspondence to Lili Li.

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Li, L., Zheng, L., Zhang, Z. et al. How to trigger and strengthen the positive impact of the internet on the income of farmers in the region? A case from China. Electron Commer Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-023-09802-5

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