ICT/e-learning readiness analysis of farmers in China.

The widespread use of mobile phones and the Internet in China, particularly in cities and urban areas, has speeded up the adoption of ICT technologies in rural areas. However, the digital divide between urban and rural areas and between different parts of the country is huge. The Chinese Government’s 11th 5-year Plans have earmarked ‘Building of new typed rural areas or communities’ as one of its priority programmes. The aim of one of the components - ‘rural informatization’ – is to deliver information services to rural communities using ICTs. In order to support this programme of China - an important Member Country of CABI’s, CABI has conducted a situational analysis to investigate the readiness of Chinese farmers’ adoption of ICTs. The situation analysis has looked at the politic and policy environment, farmers’ education levels, ICT adoption rates, the state of ICT infrastructure, rural information services models, and rural information systems. This paper describes an analysis of the general situation of the ICT/e-learning readiness for farmers in China, illustrating some examples of how ICTs have been utilised to deliver information and training in rural China.