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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1562816
Digital Skills and Farmers' Consumption Inequality: Mechanisms, Regional Insights, and Policy Implications
Provisionally accepted
Liu Xinru 1
Dr. Ubair Nisar 2*
Zainab Khalid 3*
Zhang Xiujie 1 Guo Mingyuan 1 She Meijie 1
Mahmood Ahmad 4- 1 Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, Shandong, China
- 2 Institute of Business and Policy Research, SKUAST-K., JAMMU AND KASHMIR, India
- 3 Southeast University, Nanjing, China
- 4 Western Caspian University, Baku, Azerbaijan
Promoting sustainable food systems requires enhancing social and economic equity, especially in rural areas with limited technological access. Digital skills play a crucial role in reducing consumption disparities and supporting sustainable livelihoods. This study examines how digital skills influence consumption inequality among Chinese farmers using longitudinal data from the 2014-2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and a Tobit model with robustness checks. The findings show that digital skills significantly reduce consumption inequality, particularly in subsistence (food, healthcare) and enjoyment-oriented (education, leisure) categories. Mechanism analysis identifies three pathways: alleviating mobility constraints, promoting non-farm employment, and improving information access. The effects are strongest among farmers over 60 and those in the central, western, northeastern, and northern regions. Policy recommendations include expanding digital skills training, improving oversight of rural credit institutions, and enhancing digital platforms for information dissemination. Region-specific initiatives are suggested to accelerate digital literacy and reduce consumption inequality, contributing to inclusive rural development.
Keywords: Digital skills, food systems, Farmer consumption inequality, Rural Development, China 1. Introduction
Received: 24 Jan 2025; Accepted: 03 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xinru, Nisar, Khalid, Xiujie, Mingyuan, Meijie and Ahmad. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dr. Ubair Nisar, Institute of Business and Policy Research, SKUAST-K., JAMMU AND KASHMIR, India
Zainab Khalid, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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