Mechanisms and Impact Effects of Digital Agriculture Development on Agricultural Eco-Efficiency in China

The green development of agriculture is an essential way to achieve high-quality agricultural development, and the development of digitalization has given new momentum to the green development of agriculture. In this study, based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2022, we measure the agricultural eco-efficiency and the level of digital agriculture development in China using the Super-SBM model with global reference and the entropy value method, respectively. The impact of the level of digital agriculture development on agricultural eco-efficiency is explored with the help of a regression model, and the mediating role of pesticide and fertilizer inputs in this impact pathway is explored using a mediating effects model. The study found that: (1) the level of digital agriculture development positively and significantly affects agricultural eco-efficiency to a relatively large extent; (2) the effect of digital agriculture development on the improvement of agriculture eco-efficiency is significantly heterogeneous in different regions; (3) pesticide and fertilizer inputs have a mediating role in this impact pathway. Therefore, the application and promotion of digital agriculture technology should be strengthened to build a green agricultural production and management system, so as to promote high-quality and sustainable development of Chinese agriculture.