Research On Integrated Development Of Primary,secondary And Tertiary Industries In Rural Areas Driven By Digitalization

To comprehensively promote the process of rural revitalization and the realization of common prosperity,we must solve the most difficult problems which are the three issues of agriculture,the countryside and farmers.Especially in the post-epidemic era,China,as a large developing agricultural country,needs to maintain its agricultural stability,solve the three issues of agriculture,the countryside and farmers,and ensure the steady improvement of agricultural and rural economy.To make industries thriving is the core of rural revitalization.At present,China’s rural industrial development is still facing many problems,in which includes the supply of rural products and services does not match the growing high demand of the people,the contradiction between the lack of rural resources and the objective needs of industrial development is prominent,and the power of industry to drive farmers to increase their income is limited,etc.Therefore,the integration of primary,secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas was put forward.It is an effective way to establish a modern rural industrial system,enhance agricultural added value,and expand the areas of boosting farmers’ income at the present stage.It is also a significant support for comprehensively promoting rural revitalization and realizing high-quality development.Since 2015,China has listed "promoting the integrated development of rural industries" as the key content of rural work for eight consecutive years in the No.1 Central document,and remarkable results have been achieved.However,problems such as insufficient level of industrial integration,obvious factor bottleneck constraints and insufficient interest linkage are still prominent.To meet the needs of accelerating agricultural and rural modernization,it is urgent to promote highquality integrated development of rural industries.Nowadays,the development of digital economy is booming.Digital technologies represented by the Internet,cloud computing and big data have brought new and infinite opportunities for various industries,and the rural industry is no exception.To drive the transformation of rural industrial integration development and optimize the approaches of rural industrial integration digitally,is the necessary means to get into a high-quality development stage,and is the core of the digital transformation of rural industries.Consequently,it is of vital significance and value to study the impact and explore the mechanism of digitalization on the integration of rural industries in the new age of digital economy.Firstly,this paper combs the relevant domestic and foreign information and literature on the digitalization and integration of industries in rural areas.Secondly,guided by key theories such as industrial integration theory,industrial chain theory,agricultural versatility theory,transaction cost theory and institutional change theory,the paper reveals the mechanism of digitalization driving the integration of rural industries from three dimensions:extension of agricultural industrial chain,expansion of agricultural versatility and integrated development of multiple factors.Thirdly,we construct an evaluation index system to measure the digitalization level and the level of rural industrial convergence in 30 provinces from 2011 to 2020 using the entropy method and analyze the development status of the two accordingly.Then we use the fixed-effect model and the threshold effect model for the empirical test,and analyze the results for overall and heterogeneity.Finally,according to the conclusions of the study,this paper puts forward four aspects of policy recommendations: accelerating the construction of digital infrastructure,strengthening the digital application of rural industries,advancing coordinated regional development,and establishing and improving institutional system.The main research conclusions are as follows:First,theoretical studies show that digitization will facilitate the integrated development of primary,secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas by facilitating the extension of the agricultural industrial chain,the development of agricultural versatility and the integrated development of multi-factors.Second,from 2011 to 2020,the digitalization level of 30 provinces in China showed a trend of rapid growth.The development of digitalization varies among regions.The eastern region develops fastest and shows the leading digitalization level,while the central and western regions have similar development situations,and the digitalization levels are relatively backward.Third,from 2011 to 2020,the integration level of rural industries in 30 provinces showed an overall trend of fluctuation and rise.The integration development level of rural industries in major grain selling regions and major grain producing regions is relatively high,while in the production and sales equilibrium regions it is at a low level of integration development.Fourth,it is empirically verified that digitalization has a significant positive facilitating impact on the integration of rural industries,and there is regional heterogeneity in the effect.The promotion effect in the eastern area exceeds that in the central and western areas,and the major grain producing regions showed more obvious facilitating effect than the non-major grain producing regions.Fifth,the mechanism of digitalization driving rural industrial integration is verified empirically.Digitalization plays a significant role in facilitating the extension of agricultural industrial chain,the development of agricultural versatility and the integration of factors,and the facilitating effect on the former two is more obvious.Both digital infrastructure and digital application have significant facilitating effects on the rural industries integration,and the former effect is more significant.Sixth,empirical evidence verifies that the impact of digitalization on rural industrial integration has a double threshold effect based on the industrial structure.When the degree of industrial structure upgrading does not exceed the first threshold,the regression coefficient for digitization is not significant.Between the first and the second threshold,digitalization shows a significant positive impact on the integration of rural industries.When the degree of industrial structure upgrading is higher than the second threshold,the positive effect is further obvious.