Digital Technology Adoption and its impact on household Efficiency: case study drones in rural Vietnam

The application of digital technology in agricultural production, especially rice cultivation, plays an important strategic role in promising to achieve food security and effectively reduce poverty in developing countries. However, there are very few studies that rigorously assess the impact of digital technology on household efficiency, typically productivity and profitability of households in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The main data for the study were collected directly from interviews with 470 rice-growing households, including 279 households applying digital technology and 191 households not applying it. The study used the propensity score estimation method to establish the relationship between digital technology application and changes in rice household efficiency. Results from the econometric analysis show that households adopting digital technologies have higher annual yields ranging from 0.57 tons/ha to 0.67 tons/ha and higher profits ranging from VND 6.77 million to VND 7.63 million per ha compared to households that do not adopt them. Our findings highlight the importance of promoting digital technology adoption in agriculture among smallholder farmers in rural areas. We therefore recommend strengthening interventions on the generation, dissemination and adoption of digital technologies in rural areas, and strengthening linkages between research, extension, universities and farmers through facilitating multi-stakeholder innovation platforms.