Does Internet use help reduce rural cropland abandonment? Evidence from China

Abstract Currently, food and nutrition insecurity remains a major problem for developing countries. Reducing cropland abandonment is one of the keys to ensuring food security. Thus, this study employs survey data from 8031 farm households in 27 provinces in rural China and builds a theoretical analytical framework of “information and communication technology (ICT) → farm household → land use” under the guidance of information economics theory. Furthermore, this study explores the quantitative impacts of the Internet use of farm households on cropland abandonment using an endogenous switching regression (ESR). The results reveal the following: (1) regarding spatial distribution, there is an opposite trend of spatial area aggregation between the Internet use of farm households and cropland abandonment; (2) regarding a quantitative relationship, Internet use can help reduce farm households’ cropland abandonment by 43.20%; and (3) Internet use has heterogeneous impacts on cropland abandonment in different groups. The results of this study may link ICT and land use change and provide a new reference for developing countries to ensure food and nutrition security.