At present, the new generation of information technology innovation is unprecedentedly active, constantly giving birth to new products, new models and new formats. Digital village construction is accompanied by the application of networking, informatization and digitalization in the economic and social development of agriculture and rural areas, as well as the improvement of farmers' modern information skills, which is not only the strategic direction of rural revitalization, but also an important content of building digital China. The Party Central Committee attaches great importance to the construction of digital villages, and since the Central Document No. 1 in 2018 first proposed the "implementation of digital village strategy", the Central Document No. 1 has put forward clear instructions and deployments for the construction of digital villages for four consecutive years. In May 2019, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Outline of Digital Village Development Strategy, which clarified the goals and tasks of digital village construction. The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Long-Range Goals for 2035 adopted by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out that "promoting the construction of digital villages". The construction of digital villages has provided new impetus for rural revitalization, and the inclusive growth brought by it has profoundly changed the development path of rural areas, helping the comprehensive upgrading of agriculture, comprehensive progress of rural areas, and all-round development of farmers.
Improve agricultural productivity. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has attached great importance to the development of the digital economy, promoted the deep integration of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and the real economy, built a digital China and a smart society, and accelerated the digitalization, networking and intelligence of agriculture. Digital technology is a general-purpose technology with high permeability, and its deep integration with traditional agriculture has spawned the development of digital agriculture. Through the accumulation, development and mining of big data in the whole process of agricultural production, operation and management, digital technology can realize the systematic integration of agricultural production process, help improve the standardization level of agricultural production, improve the accuracy of agricultural business decision-making, realize the scale and organization of agricultural production, thereby improving agricultural production efficiency and realizing the all-round reshaping of traditional agriculture.
Activate rural feature resources. As a new type of production factor, data is listed alongside traditional factors such as land, labor, capital, and technology, and has been written into documents such as the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Building a More Perfect Market-oriented Allocation System and Mechanism for Factors. The construction of digital villages plays an important role in promoting the accumulation of data elements in rural areas. Through the construction of digital villages, the flow of capital, technology, talents, materials, etc. can be driven by information flow to rural agglomeration, and the accumulation of various production factors in rural areas can be promoted. The construction of digital villages is a systematic project, which should take data elements as the incision, increase capital investment in rural areas through the guidance of government funds and the extensive participation of social capital, increase the construction of rural information technology, attract skilled talents and management talents to participate in digital village construction, and smooth the channel for public resources to invest in rural areas.
Broaden the channels of farmers' income. Digital village construction can not only increase farmers' operating income by improving agricultural production efficiency, but also increase property income by improving farmers' digital literacy. With the embedding and application of digital technology in the field of agricultural production, traditional agriculture is accelerating its transformation into smart agriculture, reducing the management cost, decision-making cost and labor cost of agricultural production, improving the output and quality of agricultural products, and realizing refined agricultural management, thereby reducing agricultural losses. At the same time, we should expand sales channels through information networks and increase farmers' operating income. Digital villages also provide more investment opportunities for farmers, digital finance, mobile payment, etc. greatly reduce the threshold of financial investment, so that farmers can also enjoy the development benefits of modern finance, and at the same time provide credit support for farmers to expand production and diversified operations, and improve farmers' property income.
To promote the construction of digital villages, we should grasp the following practical points:
Speed up the construction of rural information infrastructure. Rural areas have a weak digital foundation and are relatively backward in emerging cutting-edge information infrastructure such as 5G. Standing at a new starting point for development, we should greatly improve the level of rural network facilities and consolidate the foundation for building digital villages. Strengthen infrastructure co-construction and sharing, and accelerate the development of rural broadband communication networks, mobile Internet, digital television networks and the next-generation Internet. Continue to implement the pilot work of universal service compensation for telecommunications, and support the development of broadband networks in rural areas. Promote the construction and upgrading of radio and television infrastructure in rural areas. Encourage the development of information terminals, technical products, and mobile Internet application software that adapt to the characteristics of the "three rural areas", comprehensively implement the project of information entering villages and households, and build a comprehensive service platform for agriculture. In addition, it is also necessary to carry out digital transformation of traditional rural infrastructure, accelerate the digital and intelligent transformation of infrastructure such as water conservancy, highways, electric power, cold chain logistics, agricultural production and processing in rural areas, and promote the construction of smart water conservancy, smart transportation, smart grid, smart agriculture, and smart logistics.
Develop the rural digital economy and promote the transformation and upgrading of the rural economy. The development of rural digital economy can start from both agricultural production and sales. At the production end, dynamic monitoring of permanent basic farmland is carried out, and the application of Beidou satellite navigation system and high-resolution earth observation system in agricultural production is vigorously promoted. Accelerate the promotion of the application of cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence in agricultural production, operation and management, and promote the comprehensive and deep integration and application of a new generation of information technology with planting, seed, animal husbandry, fishery, and agricultural product processing industries. On the sales side, implement the "Internet +" agricultural products out of the village and into the city, deepen the popularization of rural postal and express delivery outlets, deepen the comprehensive demonstration of e-commerce into rural areas, and cultivate rural e-commerce product brands.
Guide the extension of digital finance to rural areas, and promote inclusive financial services in rural areas. Rural finance has the characteristics of small amount, low return, short cycle and large quantity. Digital finance brings inclusive financial services to rural areas from both breadth and depth. In terms of breadth, digital finance will provide agriculture, rural areas, and farmers with diversified financial products or services such as banking, insurance, funds, and financial leasing, changing the status quo of traditional rural financial models with single models and lack of products. In depth, the rise of digital finance has made it possible to tailor large-scale financial products, enhanced financial flexibility, adaptability and accessibility, and effectively made up for the shortcomings of rural finance. The decentralized nature of digital finance greatly shortens the credit process and greatly improves efficiency. At the same time, digital finance innovates financial models, improves the stability of rural finance, and provides sustainable financial solutions for agriculture.
Promote rural digital governance and improve the level of rural governance modernization. Promote rural "Internet + party building", build and improve the rural grassroots party building information platform, strengthen the management of rural party members, break the limitations of geographical space, widely carry out online party class education, quickly and accurately convey the spirit of the central government, promote the standardization of rural party building, and improve the cohesion and appeal of rural grassroots party organizations. Explore the establishment of an "Internet + grid management" service management model, promote online disclosure of party affairs, village affairs, and finance, improve the intelligent, refined and professional level of rural governance, strengthen the interconnection of rural information resources, and improve the working mechanism and linkage mechanism for information collection, disposal, and feedback. Accelerate the full access of rural areas to the national integrated online government service platform, improve the level of village-level comprehensive service informatization, accelerate the promotion of reform models such as "running at most once" and "not meeting for approval", promote online government services, do it immediately, and do it less quickly, and improve the convenience of the peasant masses in handling affairs.
Make overall plans to promote the integrated development of urban and rural informatization. The construction of digital villages cannot simply copy smart cities, but should gradually integrate and share information resources through the interconnection of platforms, and rely on the national data sharing and exchange platform system to promote the sharing, openness and effective integration of agriculture-related government information resources of various departments. Adhere to urban-rural integration, innovate the institutional mechanism for the integrated development of urban and rural informatization, guide the flow of urban networks, information, technology and talents and other resources to the countryside, and promote the rational allocation of urban and rural factors. When standardizing the construction of digital villages and formulating development standards, we should adhere to integrated design, synchronous implementation, synergy, integration and innovation, promote the digital, networked and intelligent development of urban and rural production, life and ecological space, and accelerate the formation of a digital urban-rural integrated development pattern of joint construction and sharing, interconnection, different characteristics, and intertwined development.
The authors: Kong Han and Liu Shuai are researchers at the Institute of Regional and Urban-Rural Development of Wuhan University and lecturers at the Institute of New Rural Development of Peking University