Increasing agricultural productivity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is an important channel for reducing poverty and food insecurity. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have the potential to boost agricultural productivity by lowering transaction costs and enhancing access to information. Even though there are several micro-level studies analysing the effects of ICT on agricultural productivity, there is scant research addressing the role of ICT in agricultural productivity at the global and regional levels. Using data from 86 countries for the period 2000 to 2019 and utilising a fixed effect panel regression with a feasible generalised least square approach, we find that globally there is a positive and significant association between ICT uptake and both land and labour productivity in agriculture. In each case, however, the magnitude of the effect is much smaller than other important determinants, such as human capital, access to inputs or environmental factors. At the regional level, the relationship between ICT uptake and land productivity is not significant in Africa and Asia, while we find a significant effect on labour productivity. This finding indicates that while ICT can provide valuable information and tools for land management, the effect on land productivity might be less immediate in these regions. Finally, we revisit the question of whether ICT expansion increases agricultural productivity gaps between high-income nations and LMICs. In contrast to previous research, this study does not find significant differences in the effects of ICT on land and labour productivity between higher-income and lower-income countries.

中文翻译：

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评估信息通信技术提高农业土地和劳动生产率的潜力：全球和区域视角

提高中低收入国家（LMIC）的农业生产力是减少贫困和粮食不安全的重要途径。信息和通信技术（ICT）具有通过降低交易成本和增加信息获取来提高农业生产力的潜力。尽管有一些微观层面的研究分析了信息通信技术对农业生产力的影响，但很少有研究探讨信息通信技术在全球和区域层面对农业生产力的作用。使用 2000 年至 2019 年期间 86 个国家的数据，并利用固定效应面板回归和可行的广义最小二乘法，我们发现，在全球范围内，信息通信技术的采用与农业中的土地和劳动生产率之间存在显着的正相关关系。然而，在每种情况下，影响的程度都远小于其他重要的决定因素，例如人力资本、投入或环境因素。在区域层面，非洲和亚洲的信息通信技术普及率与土地生产率之间的关系并不显着，而我们发现对劳动生产率有显着影响。这一发现表明，虽然信息通信技术可以为土地管理提供有价值的信息和工具，但对这些地区土地生产力的影响可能不太直接。最后，我们重新审视信息通信技术的扩张是否会扩大高收入国家和中低收入国家之间农业生产力差距的问题。与之前的研究相比，本研究没有发现高收入国家和低收入国家之间信息通信技术对土地和劳动生产率的影响存在显着差异。