INSTITUTIONALISING RURAL DIGITALISATION IN AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT: A REVIEW OF POLICY, GOVERNANCE, AND SUSTAINABILITY IN CHINA'S RURAL TRANSFORMATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJIREV.826011Keywords:
Agricultural Management, Beijing, China, Digital Governance, Institutionalisation, Integrative Literature Review, Rural Digitalisation, Rural RevitalisationAbstract
A large-scale, policy-driven reform in agricultural governance for developing countries is China's rural digitalisation plan. Integrate a review of previous studies and conduct a documentary case study of Beijing's rural and peri-urban areas to explore the institutionalisation path of rural digitalisation in agricultural management. Scopus, Web of Science, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were used to search for 36 peer-reviewed papers and policy documents published between 2019 and 2025, and then these were organised by theme. The three contents of this paper are: (1) The national policy system for digitalisation under the rural revitalisation plan; (2) Institutional barriers to implementation, including governance fragmentation, capacity deficits and digital exclusion; and (3) Technological and environmental results of digital transformation, such as enhanced productivity and green development. We find that China's Digital Rural Development Action Plan (2019–2025) and the 14th Five-Year Plan for Agricultural and Rural Modernisation have built a strong policy system, but successful institutionalisation requires closing multi-level coordination gaps, enhancing local administrative capacity, and ensuring inclusive digital access. The Beijing case shows that rural and semi-urban areas are under pressure to balance the speed of new- technology adoption with uneven institutional construction. Finally, we list the directions for future research: Longitudinal studies of institutional changes, cross-regional comparisons, and closer attention to the life experiences of rural stakeholders.
Downloads
References
Cen, T., Lin, S., & Wu, Q. (2022). How does digital economy affect rural revitalization? The mediating effect of industrial upgrading. Sustainability, 14(24), 16987. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416987
Chen, L., Tang, B., Qin, J., & Zhu, Y. (2025). The impact of digital village development on rural women’s participation in village governance in China. Chinese Political Science Review, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-025-00286-2
Chen, N. (2025). The impact of the rural digital economy on China’s new-type urbanization. PLoS One, 20(4), e0321663. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321663
Chunfang, Y., Xing, J., Changming, C., Shiou, L., Obuobi, B., & Yifeng, Z. (2024). Digital economy empowers sustainable agriculture: Implications for farmers’ adoption of ecological agricultural technologies. Ecological Indicators, 159, 111723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.111723
Dai, X., Chen, Y., Zhang, C., He, Y., & Li, J. (2023). Technological revolution in the field: Green development of Chinese agriculture driven by digital information technology (DIT). Agriculture, 13(1), 199. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13010199
Deng, J., Li, X., & Zhang, N. (2024). The impact of digital rural construction on rural revitalization—Empirical evidence from Chinese county panel data. Agriculture, 14(11), 1903. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14111903
Fan, Z., Liu, Z., & Yang, X. (2022). Characteristics of information poverty in rural areas in the era of digitalization & intellectualization: Explorations based on field cases. Journal of Library and Information Sciences in Agriculture, 34(1), 38.
He, C., Chen, G., & Chen, Y. (2024). Empowering rural revitalization in China through digital innovation: Strategies, impact, and future directions. In 2024 2nd International Conference on Digital Economy and Management Science (CDEMS 2024) (pp. 269–278). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-488-4_30
Hou, L., Tian, C., Xiang, R., Wang, C., & Gai, M. (2023). Research on the impact mechanism and spatial spillover effect of digital economy on rural revitalization: An empirical study based on China’s provinces. Sustainability, 15(15), 11607. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511607
Hou, X., Li, J., Yin, S., & Yuan, H. (2022). Evolution of agricultural innovation ecosystem in county areas: A life-cycle perspective of cases in Hebei Province. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2022(1), 5262248. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/5262248
Li, H., He, H., & Zhang, J. (2022). Study on rural development evaluation and drivers of sustainable development: Evidence from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China. Sustainability, 14(15), 9570. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159570
Li, L., & Gao, Z. (2024). Agro-climatic regionalization of kernel apricot (Prunus armeniaca × sibirica) plantations in Beijing. Bangladesh Journal of Botany, 53(4), 1067–1075. https://doi.org/10.3329/bjb.v53i4.78567
Luo, G., Yang, Y., & Wang, L. (2023). Driving rural industry revitalization in the digital economy era: Exploring strategies and pathways in China. PLoS One, 18(9), e0292241. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292241
Ma, Y., Yu, Z., Liu, W., & Ren, Q. (2025). Exploring the coupling coordination relationship and obstacle factors of rural revitalization, new-type urbanization, and digital economy in China. PLoS One, 20(1), e0313125. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313125
Peng, Y., Liu, B., & Zhou, M. (2022). Sustainable livelihoods in rural areas under the shock of climate change: Evidence from China’s labor-force dynamic survey. Sustainability, 14(12), 7262. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127262
Qin, T., Wang, L., Zhou, Y., Guo, L., Jiang, G., & Zhang, L. (2022). Digital technology-and-services-driven sustainable transformation of agriculture: Cases of China and the EU. Agriculture, 12(2), 297. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12020297
Ren, Y. (2023). Rural China staggering towards the digital era: Evolution and restructuring. Land, 12(7), 1416. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12071416
Song, Y. (2023). How do Chinese SMEs enhance technological innovation capability? From the perspective of innovation ecosystem. European Journal of Innovation Management, 26(5), 1235–1254. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejim-01-2022-0016
Sun, P., Ge, D., Yuan, Z., & Lu, Y. (2024). Rural revitalization mechanism based on spatial governance in China: A perspective on development rights. Habitat International, 147, 103068. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2024.103068
Tang, S. Y. (2021). Rethinking local and regional governance in China: An institutional design and development perspective. Urban Governance, 1(1), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ugj.2021.11.002
Tian, Y., Liu, Q., Ye, Y., Zhang, Z., & Khanal, R. (2023). How the rural digital economy drives rural industrial revitalization—Case study of China’s 30 provinces. Sustainability, 15(8), 6923. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086923
Wang, S., Yang, Y., Yin, H., Zhao, J., Wang, T., Yang, X., et al. (2025). Towards digital transformation of agriculture for sustainable development in China: Experience and lessons learned. Sustainability, 17(8), 3756. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17083756
Wang, Y., Huang, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2023). Coupling and coordinated development of digital economy and rural revitalisation and analysis of influencing factors. Sustainability, 15(4), 3779. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043779
Wang, Z., Liu, X., Qin, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2024). How rural digitization promote coordinated urban–rural development: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China. Agriculture, 14(12), 2323. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14122323
Whittemore, R., & Knafl, K. (2005). The integrative review: Updated methodology. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 52(5), 546–553. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2005.03621.x
Xie, G., Tian, Y., Huang, L., Li, M., & Blenkinsopp, J. (2025). What kind of rural digital configurations contribute to high county-level economic growth? A study conducted in China’s digital village pilot counties. Systems, 13(6), 488. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060488
Xie, L., Luo, B., & Zhong, W. (2021). How are smallholder farmers involved in digital agriculture in developing countries: A case study from China. Land, 10(3), 245. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10030245
Yang, X., Li, W., Zhang, P., Chen, H., Lai, M., & Zhao, S. (2023). The dynamics and driving mechanisms of rural revitalization in western China. Agriculture, 13(7), 1448. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13071448
Yi, S., & Zheng, C. (2023). Evolution of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional collaborative innovation network and its influencing factors. Science Research Management, 44(3), 43.
Yin, S., Wang, Y., & Xu, J. (2022). Developing a conceptual partner matching framework for digital green innovation of agricultural high-end equipment manufacturing system toward agriculture 5.0. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 924109. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.924109
Zhang, H., & He, R. (2022). A study on digital inclusion of Chinese rural older adults from a life course perspective. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 974998. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.974998
Zhang, S., de Roo, G., & Rauws, W. (2020). Understanding self-organization and formal institutions in peri-urban transformations: A case study from Beijing. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 47(2), 287–303. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808319888223
Zhang, T. J. Z. (2025). Historical lessons and practical rationale of national coordinated governance in China. Journal of Asian Governance, 2(1), 107–129. https://doi.org/10.63851/001c.133772
Zhao, W., Liang, Z., & Li, B. (2022). Realizing a rural sustainable development through a digital village construction: Experiences from China. Sustainability, 14(21), 14199. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114199
Zhao, Y., & Li, R. (2022). Coupling and coordination analysis of digital rural construction from the perspective of rural revitalization: A case study from Zhejiang province of China. Sustainability, 14(6), 3638. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063638
Zhong, X. (2023). Agricultural and rural digitalisation in regional sustainable development: A comparative study between China and the European Union. Cognitive Sustainability, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.55343/cogsust.45
