Introduction

Digital technologies have the potential to significantly contribute to the sustainable transformation of agriculture by improving efficiency and productivity, reducing labor and chemical inputs, enhancing access to markets, and increasing farmers' income and welfare. To date, digital technologies are, however, still predominately applied to large-scale farming systems, particularly in industrialized countries. In smallholder and family farming systems, the adoption rates of digital technologies are still low, which is associated with the emergence of a digital gap in the agricultural sector.

Among smallholders, common technologies are predominantly digital communication and information technologies. More recently, field robots, drones, and other small farm machinery have become available through rental services. Despite potential benefits, constraints in finances and human capital might, however, generate a digital divide between remaining traditional smallholder producers and modernized commercial farms. There is an urgent need for policymakers and researchers to improve their understanding of the adoption and impacts of agricultural digitalization among smallholder farmers.

Journal of Integrative Agriculture (JIA) is organizing a special issue titled “Digitalization of Smallholder Agriculture – Drivers and Impacts of Digital Innovations” to contribute towards closing this gap. JIA, sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the Chinese Association of Agricultural Science Societies (CAASS) and published by Elsevier, provides a vibrant platform for researchers to disseminate discoveries to their peers. JIA is a Q1 journal and has an Impact Factor of 4.6.  

Topics

Possible topics for the paper in the context of digitalization in smallholder agriculture and family farming include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Spread of digital technologies and the digital gap in smallholder systems.

2. Potential of digitalization to tackle fundamental resource constraints in smallholder agriculture, including the contribution of leap-frogging conventional mechanization.

3. Impact of digitalization on productivity, and the reduction of production risk.

4. Determinants and drivers of digital innovation adoption in agricultural systems.

5. Analysis of relevant agricultural policies related to digitalization

We invite original research articles, reviews, and short communications that address any of the above themes.

Important dates

Submission deadline for full papers：20 February, 2025

Submission Guidelines

This special issue will strictly follow the editorial policy of JIA. All manuscripts must be passed by rigorous peer-review process. Please format manuscripts according to the JIA journal guidelines.

All papers must be submitted online under the following link: http://www.chinaagrisci.com/Jwk_zgnykxen/EN/volumn/current.shtml. Submission titles should include the keywords "[SI_Digitalization]" before the actual title to distinguish themselves from other submissions, e.g., “[SI_Digitalization]_Your paper title”. 

Managing Editor: Lingyun Weng

Tel: +86-10-82106280

E-mail: wenglingyun@caas.cn

Agricultural Information Institute (AII)

Chinese Agricultural Academy of Sciences (CAAS)

Guest Editors

Lena Kuhn

Senior Researcher

Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Germany

E-mail: Kuhn@iamo.de

Hang Xiong

Full Professor

College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University

Email: hxiong@hzau.edu.cn

Hongmei Yi

Professor

School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University

E-mail: hmyi.ccap@pku.edu.cn

Zhanli Sun

Senior Researcher

Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Germany

E-mail: Sun@iamo.de

Journal of Integrative Agriculture (《农业科学学报》(英文), JIA) 由中华人民共和国农业农村部主管，中国农业科学院与中国农学会主办，中国农业科学院农业信息研究所承办。综合性英文学术期刊，月刊。创刊于2002年，现任主编为中国科学院院士陈化兰。JIA主要栏目有作物科学、园艺、植物保护、动物科学、动物医学、农业生态环境、食品科学、农业经济与管理等。刊稿类型有综述、研究论文、简报以及评述等。全部论文在Elsevier-ScienceDirect (SD) 平台OA出版。最新SCI影响因子4.6，位于SCI-JCR农业综合学科Q1区。中国科学院分区农林科学1区。2016年以来先后获得中国科协等部委 “提升计划”“登峰计划”“卓越计划”项目支持。