ICT Adoption, Individual Income and Psychological Health of Rural Farmers in China

Can China's New Rural Cooperative Medical System Improve Farmers' Subjective Well-Being?

“…China's rapid economic growth over the past four decades has been accompanied by a proliferation of studies on the well-being of the residents (15)(16)(17)(18). Studies on Chinese rural residents showed that in addition to income level, health status, educational attainment, housing conditions, medical conditions, and perceptions of social equity could also significantly affect their subjective well-being (19)(20)(21). In addition, in rural China, where social security is generally lacking, the implementation of welfare protection programs such as low-income insurance and pensions also improves farmers' subjective well-being (22,23).…”

Farmers’ Use of Social Media and its Implications for Agricultural Extension: Evidence from Thailand

“…Other studies reported similar findings, where older prospective users were related negatively to the adoption of new technology, as in the case of adopting information and communication technologies (ICTs) for farming decisions in India (Ali, 2012), and mobile phones for fruit marketing in Vietnam (Hoang, 2020). According to (Zhu, Ma, & Leng, 2020), skills in using modern technologies were better in younger generations, and more elderly people had limited awareness of the benefits provided from these technologies. This may help to explain the situation.…”

“…This situation may also resemble that in other developing countries, in which farmers share similar socio-demographic characteristics such as aging, limited formal education, and small-sized farms (Table 1; see (HelpAge International, 2014;Isaya, Agunga, & Sanga, 2018;Khan et al, 2020a)). Age and educational factors were indeed found to influence the acceptance of social media by the farmers (Table 4), as well as other new technologies (e.g., (Hoang, 2020;Khan.. et al, 2020b;Zhu et al, 2020)).…”

“…Feyisa (2020) also reported a positive connection between the education level of household heads and the decision of farmers to adopt agricultural technology in Ethiopia. This positive association exists probably because education improves the knowledge and skills of farmers and their access to information required for adopting new technologies (Reimers & Klasen, 2013;Zhu et al, 2020). With education, farmers increase their appreciation of new technology and its benefits, while they also decrease their perceived level of uncertainty and risk of new innovations (Reimers & Klasen, 2013;Zhu et al, 2020).…”

“…In the case of Thailand, it is apparently not the right time at the moment for relevant government agencies to embark on social media-based extension projects. Emphasis should be directed instead on raising farmers' awareness of social media, and their potential contributions to the improvement of their farming practices and other agriculturerelated activities (see Zhu et al (2020)).…”