The application and benefits of digital technologies for agri-food value chain: Evidence from an emerging country

ABSTRACT Purpose: Many academic and technical studies have explored information and communications technology (ICT) applications in the agri-food sector from the farmers’ perspective. However, the technology supplier perspective on the ICT application has been largely overlooked. This paper aims to analyze how digital technologies are used within the agri-food value chain and their benefits and advantages from the technology supplier perspective. Originality/value: First, the study analyzed the benefits of ICT for the agri-food sector from the technology supplier perspective. Second, it comprised the integrated analysis of the complete set of ICT applied to the entire agri-food value chain. Third, we guaranteed the study’s replicability by using a straightforward methodological approach. Design/methodology/approach: Exploratory study with a descriptive approach was employed to map the complete set of digital technologies commercialized by 131 agri-food technology companies. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) (2018) typology for ICT solutions was used to identify technology types. The NVIVO software cluster analysis was applied to the data related to the benefits and advantages of the firms’ ICT solutions. Findings: We identified that cost reduction and rapid decision-making are the essential benefits of ICT. It was found that the ICT field in the agri-food sector is composed of different companies’ generations, and many are not startups. We identified two new phenomena: agricultural servitization, which comprehends the increasing importance of services as crucial input for agricultural production, and agricultural manufacturing, which refers to increasing control over production factors in agriculture.

摘要

研究目的：过往诸多学术与技术研究均从农户视角出发，探索信息通信技术（ICT）在农业食品领域的应用，但针对技术供应商视角的ICT应用研究却长期被忽视。本文旨在从技术供应商视角，分析农业食品价值链中的数字技术应用情况及其带来的效益与优势。

研究创新与价值：其一，本研究首次从技术供应商视角剖析了ICT对农业食品领域的价值效益；其二，研究对覆盖完整农业食品价值链的全品类ICT应用进行了整合分析；其三，本研究采用简洁直观的方法论路径，确保了研究的可重复性。

研究设计与方法：本研究采用描述性探索性研究设计，对131家农业食品技术企业商业化推广的全品类数字技术进行系统性映射梳理。研究采用经济合作与发展组织（Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD，2018）提出的ICT解决方案分类体系完成技术类型识别，并借助NVIVO软件的聚类分析方法，对企业ICT解决方案相关的效益数据开展分析。

研究发现：本研究识别出，成本削减与快速决策是ICT应用的核心效益；同时农业食品领域的ICT企业涵盖了不同发展阶段的市场主体，其中大量并非初创企业。此外，本研究还发现了两类全新的行业现象：一是农业服务化（agricultural servitization），即服务作为农业生产关键投入的重要性日益凸显；二是农业制造化（agricultural manufacturing），具体指对农业生产要素的管控程度不断提升。