Can Information from the Internet Improve Grain Technical Efficiency? New Evidence from Rice Production in China
The Internet has become an important channel through which farmers obtain technical information regarding agricultural production. While previous studies have examined the effect of information from the Internet on technical efficiency in cash-crop production, there is little knowledge about how inf...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Agriculture |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/12/2086 |
| _version_ | 1797461921746649088 |
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| author | Qianqian Chen Chao Zhang Ruifa Hu Shengyang Sun |
| author_facet | Qianqian Chen Chao Zhang Ruifa Hu Shengyang Sun |
| author_sort | Qianqian Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Internet has become an important channel through which farmers obtain technical information regarding agricultural production. While previous studies have examined the effect of information from the Internet on technical efficiency in cash-crop production, there is little knowledge about how information from the Internet affects technical efficiency in grain production. This study aims to provide new evidence for the effect of information from the Internet on technical efficiency in rice production using the random survey data of 1122 rice farmers from the Yangtze River Basin in China. A stochastic frontier production function is employed to estimate technical efficiency in rice production, and the endogenous switching regression model is utilized to address the potential self-selectivity bias. The results show that 13.6% of surveyed rice farmers obtain information regarding agricultural production from the Internet. After addressing the self-selectivity bias, information from the Internet is found to increase rice farmers’ technical efficiency by 6.657 percentage points using the endogenous switching regression model. Meanwhile, information from the Internet exerts greater positive effects on technical efficiency in rice production among farmers with larger farm size and less farming experience as well as those in the Guizhou and Hubei provinces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:27:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ba02e8603be240de88f262f10b3da4e2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0472 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:27:16Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agriculture |
| spelling | doaj.art-ba02e8603be240de88f262f10b3da4e22023-11-24T12:41:08ZengMDPI AGAgriculture2077-04722022-12-011212208610.3390/agriculture12122086Can Information from the Internet Improve Grain Technical Efficiency? New Evidence from Rice Production in ChinaQianqian Chen0Chao Zhang1Ruifa Hu2Shengyang Sun3School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, ChinaSchool of Humanities and Social Sciences, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, ChinaSchool of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, ChinaDepartment of Economics Teaching and Research, Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C (National Academy of Governance), Beijing 100091, ChinaThe Internet has become an important channel through which farmers obtain technical information regarding agricultural production. While previous studies have examined the effect of information from the Internet on technical efficiency in cash-crop production, there is little knowledge about how information from the Internet affects technical efficiency in grain production. This study aims to provide new evidence for the effect of information from the Internet on technical efficiency in rice production using the random survey data of 1122 rice farmers from the Yangtze River Basin in China. A stochastic frontier production function is employed to estimate technical efficiency in rice production, and the endogenous switching regression model is utilized to address the potential self-selectivity bias. The results show that 13.6% of surveyed rice farmers obtain information regarding agricultural production from the Internet. After addressing the self-selectivity bias, information from the Internet is found to increase rice farmers’ technical efficiency by 6.657 percentage points using the endogenous switching regression model. Meanwhile, information from the Internet exerts greater positive effects on technical efficiency in rice production among farmers with larger farm size and less farming experience as well as those in the Guizhou and Hubei provinces.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/12/2086internettechnical efficiencyrice productionself-selectivity bias |
| spellingShingle | Qianqian Chen Chao Zhang Ruifa Hu Shengyang Sun Can Information from the Internet Improve Grain Technical Efficiency? New Evidence from Rice Production in China Agriculture internet technical efficiency rice production self-selectivity bias |
| title | Can Information from the Internet Improve Grain Technical Efficiency? New Evidence from Rice Production in China |
| title_full | Can Information from the Internet Improve Grain Technical Efficiency? New Evidence from Rice Production in China |
| title_fullStr | Can Information from the Internet Improve Grain Technical Efficiency? New Evidence from Rice Production in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can Information from the Internet Improve Grain Technical Efficiency? New Evidence from Rice Production in China |
| title_short | Can Information from the Internet Improve Grain Technical Efficiency? New Evidence from Rice Production in China |
| title_sort | can information from the internet improve grain technical efficiency new evidence from rice production in china |
| topic | internet technical efficiency rice production self-selectivity bias |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/12/2086 |
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