Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

12-2025

Abstract

Agriculture is a fundamental and strategic industry essential to national food security and farmers’ well-being. Faced with global population growth, climate change, and resource constraints, the traditional high-input agricultural model is unsustainable. Smart agriculture, empowered by IoT, big data, and AI, has become critical for agricultural transformation and sustainable development. However, existing research overemphasizes technical efficiency and neglects how smart agriculture systematically affects farmers’ income, especially its transmission mechanism and regional heterogeneity.

Against China’s rural revitalization and digital village strategy, this study investigates how smart agriculture development influences farmers’ income, using a hybrid framework of macro empirics and micro analysis. We establish a three‑dimensional index system and apply the entropy method to measure provincial smart agriculture levels in China from 2015 to 2023. Results show steady overall improvement but strong spatio-temporal imbalance: eastern regions lead, central regions catch up, and western and northeastern regions lag.

Panel data econometric analysis confirms that smart agriculture significantly increases farmers’ income, robust after endogeneity and robustness checks. Regional heterogeneity is evident: smart agriculture boosts income significantly in central, western, and northeastern China, but shows no significant effect in the east, indicating a marginal diminishing effect.

Mediation analysis identifies agricultural productivity as a key channel: smart agriculture raises income both directly and indirectly by improving productivity. A micro case study of Dongsheng Group illustrates practical pathways: cost reduction and efficiency gains through R&D, and empowerment via digital platforms, supporting the macro mechanism “technology application – efficiency improvement – income growth”.

We propose policy suggestions for governments, enterprises, and farmers to promote differentiated development, business models, digital literacy, and benefit-sharing mechanisms.

This study contributes a multi-dimensional measurement system, verifies the income effect and productivity mechanism, and integrates macro and micro evidence. It fills s gaps in the literature by linking technology to social welfare and provides empirical support for agricultural economics, development economics, and digital rural governance.

Keywords

smart agriculture, farmers' income, influencing mechanisms, production efficiency, regional heterogeneity, case studies

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Bus Admin (CKGSB)

Discipline

Agricultural and Resource Economics | Strategic Management Policy

Supervisor(s)

ZHANG, Man

First Page

1

Last Page

182

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Author

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