To analyze intra-household nutrient allocation, we examine the differences in expenditure elasticities across demographic groups within rural households, employing an asymmetric model along with data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 2004 to 2011.  Our analysis reveals significant heterogeneity in household nutrient allocation: during periods of expenditure expansion, households prioritize the nutritional intake of vulnerable members, specifically children and the elderly, often at the expense of prime-age adults, particularly women.  Conversely, during expenditure contraction, households shift strategies to protect the nutritional intake of prime-age adults.  This asymmetry underscores the complexity of intra-household distribution and provides critical insights for designing nutrition security policies that account for economic volatility.

Agricultural drones can improve productivity, save labor, and reduce environmental impacts by offering digital multifunctionality in agricultural production.  Yet, the lagging adoption among smallholders is still prevalent.  Existing literature commonly explains it by the lack of capital, land fragmentation, and digital illiteracy, with little delving into specific adoption modes under uncertainty.  In this study, we demonstrate the potential of hiring agricultural drone services and investigate the role of supplier uncertainty in the adoption decision.  We conduct a discrete choice experiment among 338 farmers in Hubei Province, China.  Mixed logit models are used to analyze farmers’ preferences for the agricultural drone service (ADS) and its attributes.  The results show that the large majority of sampled farmers are willing to adopt ADS.  Besides low prices, farmers prefer services with local suppliers and contracts.  Potential adopters in this choice experiment are characterized by youth, higher education, owning poor-topography farms, drone learning via word-of-mouth, and adoption experience.  The willingness to pay analysis indicates that farmers would like to spend 25 CNY per mu (53 USD per ha) on average for ADS.  Notably, farmers value the localness of suppliers more than the form of agreements when choosing a particular drone service.  These findings suggest that the mode of hiring ADS can effectively motivate farmers’ adoption intention, thereby requiring supply-side incentives and uncertainty-reducing promotion strategies to enhance smallholders’ access to and adoption of agricultural drones.

The adoption of plant-protection unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in agriculture is gaining attention, yet empirical evidence on the factors affecting their uptake remains limited.  This study investigates the factors influencing the adoption of UAVs among rice farmers in China’s Jiangxi Province (n=260), utilizing a structural equation model grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).  Results indicate that perceived usefulness (β=1.274, P<0.001) and ease of use (β=0.146, P<0.001) have a positive influence on adoption intention, while perceived risk (β=–0.731, P<0.001) acts as a barrier.  Network externalities also play a significant role, with peer influence amplifying the likelihood of adoption.  Mediation analysis reveals that perceived risk mediates the relationship between network externalities and adoption (β=–0.569, P<0.05), underscoring the interplay between social factors and risk perception.  Additionally, farm size (β=0.001, P<0.001) has a significant positive effect on adoption decisions, whereas education level, age, and planting experience show no significant impact.  These findings provide critical insights for policymakers and industry stakeholders in designing targeted interventions, such as subsidies, training programs, and risk mitigation strategies, to promote the adoption of UAVs in agriculture.

Climate disasters lead to substantial economic losses and grain yield losses, emphasizing the need for adaptation to ensure food security.  As digital technologies advance, it is imperative to investigate how digital literacy among grain farmers affects their adaptive production behaviors in the face of climate disasters.  Drawing on survey data from 505 grain-producing smallholders in Sichuan Province, China, this study constructs a theoretical framework linking digital literacy, climate disaster risk perception, and adaptive production behaviors.  Empirical analysis shows that digital literacy positively impacts the adaptive production behaviors of grain-producing smallholders.  Our results are robust across various models and tests.  An analysis of the mediation mechanism reveals that digital literacy contributes to climate disaster-adaptive production behaviors by improving the awareness of climate disaster risks.  Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive impact of digital literacy is more pronounced for smallholders that receive internet skills training and climate information services, and this impact intensifies as the level of agricultural infrastructure improves.  The findings suggest that digital literacy plays a key role in reducing production risks, thereby contributing to increased sustainable agricultural development among smallholders.

The growth of digital marketing platforms is reshaping the food systems and offers a potential solution to farmers’ output market access problem.  However, the digital transformation also leads to a growing digital divide, driven by disparities in digital literacy, which may hinder rural farmers from exploiting opportunities in the digital market.  This paper investigates the relationship between e-commerce valuation and digital technology knowledge in rural Nigeria.  We used contingent valuation questions to measure farmers’ willingness to pay for digital platform services in commercializing their agricultural products.  We performed a basic digital technology knowledge test to assess farmers’ proficiency in using digital tools, focusing on practical digital skills.  Using the treatment effects framework associated with panel data, we found significant positive and heterogeneous effects of digital technology knowledge on e-commerce valuation in rural Nigeria.  To fully realize the potential of rural e-commerce, urgent policy interventions are needed to enhance digital literacy and make internet access more affordable for rural farming households.