Digital Technology and Services for Sustainable Agriculture in Tanzania: A Literature Review

Sustainable agriculture in the digital era: Past, present, and future trends by bibliometric analysis

The digital era is reshaping agricultural practices, opening new avenues for sustainable growth, and proving indispensable in global challenges like food security and environmental conservation. However, a comprehensive understanding of this evolving landscape remains paramount. This research evaluates 344 papers from the Web of Science database to delve into sustainable agriculture's historical and current patterns in the digital era through bibliometric analysis and project future domains. Specifically, citation analysis identified influential papers, journals, institutions, and countries, while co-authorship analysis verified the interactions between authors, affiliations, and countries. Co-citation analysis found four hotspot clusters: prosperity and challenges in agricultural sustainability, digital information and agricultural development, innovations for sustainable agriculture, and geospatial analysis in environmental studies. The co-occurrence of keywords analysis revealed four main clusters for future studies: smart agriculture and biodiversity conservation, digitalization and sustainable agriculture, technologies and agricultural challenge management, and digital intelligence and farmer adoption. The study pioneers the use of bibliometric analysis to explore sustainable agriculture in the digital era. It presents invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of this field, summarizing its hotspots and suggesting future trajectories.

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Impact of Digital Technologies on Sustainable Food Production and Consumption in the European Union

In today's landscape, digital technologies hold immense potential in tackling challenges associated with food sustainability. This study aims to contextualize a broader investigation of food sustainability and digitalization within the agricultural sector. Its objective is to explore the influence of digital technologies on sustainable food production and consumption, particularly examining relationships among digital technologies, municipal waste, agricultural output, nitrogen emissions, methane emissions from agriculture, and Goal 12 Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG12). Through the use of Structural Equation Modeling, the empirical investigation scrutinizes the relationships between digital technology use and critical variables linked to food sustainability in a longitudinal analysis. The results highlight the significant impact of extensive digital technology use on municipal waste, sustainable production, and consumption, indirectly influencing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Empirical research findings reveal a negative influence of digital technologies on responsible consumption and production (path coefficient -0.349, p values < 0.001), suggesting an impact of digital technologies on diminishing sustainability in consumption and production. The relationship between digital technologies and municipal solid waste is also negative (path coefficient -0.360, p values < 0.001), suggesting that the use of digital technologies can contribute to reducing the amount of municipal solid waste. Digitalization has the potential to improve the sustainability of supply chains by reducing resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with production and distribution operations.

A Conceptual Model Relationship between Industry 4.0-Food-Agriculture Nexus and Agroecosystem: A Literature Review and Knowledge Gaps

With the expected colonization of human daily life by artificial intelligence, including in industry productivity, the deployment of Industry 4.0 (I4) in the food agriculture industry (FAI) is expected to revolutionize and galvanize food production to increase the efficiency of the industry's production and to match, in tandem, a country's gross domestic productivity. Based on a literature review, there have been almost no direct relationships between the I4-Food-Agriculture (I4FA) Nexus and the agroecosystem. This study aimed to evaluate the state-of-the-art relationships between the I4FA Nexus and the agroecosystem and to discuss the challenges in the sustainable FAI that can be assisted by the I4 technologies. This objective was fulfilled by (a) reviewing all the relevant publications and (b) drawing a conceptual relationship between the I4FA Nexus and the agroecosystem, in which the I4FA Nexus is categorized into socio-economic and environmental (SEE) perspectives. Four points are highlighted in the present review. First, I4 technology is projected to grow in the agricultural and food sectors today and in the future. Second, food agriculture output may benefit from I4 by considering the SEE benefits. Third, implementing I4 is a challenging journey for the sustainable FAI, especially for the small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Fourth, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles can help to manage I4's implementation in agriculture and food. The advantages of I4 deployment include (a) social benefits like increased occupational safety, workers' health, and food quality, security, and safety; (b) economic benefits, like using sensors to reduce agricultural food production costs, and the food supply chain; and (c) environmental benefits like reducing chemical leaching and fertilizer use. However, more studies are needed to address social adaptability, trust, privacy, and economic income uncertainty, especially in SMEs or in businesses or nations with lower resources; this will require time for adaptation to make the transition away from human ecology. For agriculture to be ESG-sustainable, the deployment of I4FA could be an answer with the support of an open-minded dialogue platform with ESG-minded leaders to complement sustainable agroecosystems on a global scale.

Coordination of agricultural informatization and agricultural economy development: A panel data analysis from Shandong Province, China

With the continuous development of the world economy, science, and technology, the era of intelligence and information is upon us. Through the implementation of the digital rural construction project in China, agriculture is developing rapidly in the direction of informatization. As a major agricultural province in China, Shandong Province has been ranked first in China for many years in terms of gross agricultural product and the import and export of agricultural products. According to the current situation of agricultural informatization in Shandong Province, this study uses relevant evaluation index data of Shandong Province from 2011 to 2019 and applies the entropy value method, coupling degree analysis model, and coupling coordination degree analysis model to deeply evaluate the mutual influence and coordination degree between the agricultural informatization level and agricultural economic development in Shandong province in each year. We identify the possible problems in the development of agricultural informatization in Shandong province. Finally, in terms of talent construction, infrastructure construction, the main role of government, policies, and farmers’ awareness of informatization, we propose some countermeasures and suggestions that are conducive to the coordinated development of agricultural informatization and the agricultural economy.

Research on the Impact and Mechanism of Internet Use on the Poverty Vulnerability of Farmers in China

Poverty vulnerability is an important indicator to achieve sustainable development of farmers out of poverty in China. Based on the data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2018, we research the impact and mechanism of Internet use on the poverty vulnerability of farmers in the context of the Internet plus strategy. The study found that under the poverty line of US $1.9 and US $3.1, vulnerable farmers accounted for 9.48% and 33.88% of the total sample, respectively. The use of the Internet can significantly reduce the poverty vulnerability of farmers. After using instrumental variables to overcome endogenous problems, and using the PSM method for robustness testing, the research conclusions are still valid. The mechanism shows that the use of the Internet reduces the level of poverty vulnerability by increasing income levels, enhancing the ability of farmers to obtain information, and promoting non-agricultural employment. Therefore, in the process of establishing and improving the long-term mechanism for poverty governance, it is necessary to fully promote the integration of the Internet and poverty vulnerabilities to further realize the long-term effectiveness and stability of poverty governance. Therefore, in the process of establishing and improving the long-term mechanism of poverty governance, we should first promote the full coverage of Internet infrastructure. Second, the government should improve the digital literacy of farmers. Third, the goal of the Internet plus strategy in the process of poverty control should be precise.