Chengrun JI

Jinan Qinghui Agricultural Service Co., Ltd, Jinan 250100, China

Abstract Pilot case of provincial digital village and town construction in Yidukou Town of Lingcheng District of Shandong Province is taken as research object. On the basis of defining the connotation and characteristics of digital village, and analyzing development status of digital village in Yidukou Town, construction ideas, system architecture and key action plans of digital village empowering rural revitalization are studied, and the mode and path of digital village empowering rural revitalization are explored.

Key words Digital village, Connotation characteristics, Construction ideas, System architecture, Key action plan

1 Introduction

In theOpinionsoftheCPCCentralCommitteeandtheStateCouncilonImplementingtheStrategyofRuralRevitalizationand theStrategicPlanningforRuralRevitalization(2018-2022), it is proposed to implement the digital village strategy and vigorously develop digital agriculture. In May of 2019, General Office of the CPC Central Committee and General Office of the State Council printed and distributed theOutlineofDigitalVillageDevelopmentStrategy. It is clear that digital village should be taken as the strategic direction of rural revitalization, and the development of informatization should be accelerated[1]. In December of 2019, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, and Office of Central Network Security and Information Technology Commission printed and distributed theDigitalAgricultureandRuralDevelopmentPlanning(2019-2025). It was proposed promoting accurate agricultural and rural production and operation, intelligent management and service, and digital rural governance, using digitization to guide and drive agricultural and rural modernization, and promoting the all-round revitalization of rural areas[2]. Central Document No.1 of 2020 proposed that it should carry out national digital village pilot. Central Document No.1 of 2021 clearly proposed that it should implement digital village construction, develop smart agriculture, establish a big data system for agriculture and rural areas, promote the deep integration of new generation of information technology and agricultural production and operation, and strengthen the digital and intelligent construction of rural public services and social governance[3]. It can be seen that the integration of digital technology and agricultural and rural development and empowering rural revitalization have become the trend of the times and development trend in the new era. Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Government attach great importance to the construction of digital village. 2021 is the first year of the 14thFive-year Plan, a new starting point for digital village empowering rural revitalization in China, and the first year of the pilot project of digital village construction in Shandong. In the face of the new development trend of the comprehensive integration of digital technology and agricultural and rural development and the new requirements put forward by the pilot construction, how to enable rural revitalization with digital technology, put forward the construction ideas, objectives and key tasks of enabling rural revitalization with digital village, explore the feasible model and path of enabling rural revitalization with digital village, and make rural revitalization more scientific, technological, information-based and intelligent is not only a new subject, but also an important task. In this paper, provincial digital village pilot town—Yidukou Town of Lingcheng District of Shandong Province is studied as the case. On the basis of defining the connotation of digital village and analyzing the current situation, some thoughts and exploration on the model and path of digital village empowering rural revitalization are put forward.

2 Connotation and characteristics of digital village

2.1 Connotation definition of digital villageDefining the connotation of digital village is very important to deepen the pilot construction of digital village, which should be the premise of digital village construction. Seen from the definition of theOutlineofDigitalVillageDevelopmentStrategy, digital village is an endogenous process of agricultural and rural modernization development and transformation with the application of networking, informatization and digitization in agricultural and rural economic and social development, as well as the improvement of farmers’ modern information skills. At present, there are many expressions on the definition and connotation of digital village. In this paper, starting from actual situation of the planning and design of provincial digital village pilot town in Shandong Province, it is considered that digital village is the integration and extension of information technology represented by digital technology and intelligent technology and modern agricultural and rural development, not a simple superposition of digital technology and intelligent technology. Relying on the development of digital industry and digital economy, digital village is a means, process and state of reconstructing rural economic development with modern information network as an important carrier and modern information technology as an important driving force.

2.2 Connotation and characteristics of digital village

2.2.1Digital village being a modern means of empowering rural revitalization. Digital village is a modern means of empowering rural revitalization. Innovated and driven by digital and information technology, it can promote the quality change, efficiency change and power change of agricultural and rural development, so as to impel the intellectualization, precision and greening of rural areas, and promote the all-round upgrading of agriculture, all-round progress of rural areas and all-round development of farmers. It is mainly reflected in promoting the application of digital technologies such as 5G, Internet of things, big data and artificial intelligence in agricultural development, boosting the construction of smart agriculture and agricultural intellectualization in the whole industrial chain. With the help of "Internet+", it can promote rural e-party affairs, e-government affairs, Internet education and training in rural areas, and Internet of things medical care in rural areas. Through the rural e-commerce platform, it can promote the fast and efficient logistics distribution and trade of agricultural products. It could promote the accuracy of rural governance through the "bright project" and party building leading the development and growth of the collective economy.

2.2.2Digital village having the trend of integration and high level of intelligence. Digital village is a state of integration, intelligence and high level of modernization[4], and can be reflected in the integration of agricultural primary, secondary and tertiary industries, the integration of agriculture, culture and tourism, the integration of urban and rural, and the integration of state-owned industrial and commercial capital and private capital. Modern level of agricultural production, agricultural products circulation and rural services is efficient. For example, Internet of things intelligent monitoring, remote diagnosis, precision operation, integrated intelligent management of water, fertilizer and pesticide are widely applied. E-commerce has become an important channel for agricultural products going out of the village and into the city. "Internet+" has been extended to the countryside, and rural information service stations have been widely established. Meanwhile, intelligent scenes led by AI and supported by 5G are integrated into rural life, such as the use of intelligent agricultural robots, UAV pesticide spraying, precision farming operation,etc.

2.2.3The construction of digital village having the characteristics of long-term dynamic innovation. Digital village construction can not be achieved overnight, but a long-term, dynamic and innovative process. The construction of digital village will cover many aspects, such as rural information infrastructure, rural digital economy, scientific and technological innovation supply, intelligent green village, rural governance, urban-rural information integration and so on. As a system engineering, digital village will involve many aspects of agriculture and rural areas such as economy, society, ecology and culture. From the perspective of digital village construction itself, it is also a process of integration and innovation of policies, technologies and business models, which will be reflected in the continuous emergence of new mechanisms, new models and new business forms in digital village construction.

3 Current situation and short board of provincial digital village pilot town of Yidukou

3.1 Basic overviewYidukou Town is a large agricultural town in Lingcheng District of Shandong Province, and is also an emerging star town for the breakthrough development of private enterprises. In 2019, the town achieved a regional gross domestic product (GDP) of 1.583 billion yuan. Calculated by comparable price, it had a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. Among them, the added value of the primary industry was 0.373 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 3.3%; the added value of the secondary industry was 0.765 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 8.6%; the added value of tertiary industry was 0.345 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 4.6%; proportion of three industrial structure was 12.57∶45.13∶42.30. The town’s per capita GDP reached 40 000 yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 7.4%. Yidukou Town is a municipal civilized township and an advanced collective in the agricultural system of Dezhou City. It is a provincial demonstration town for the popularization of social sciences determined by Shandong Federation of Social Sciences, Jimai 44 000 t commodity grain quality research academician base determined by Shandong Department of Agriculture and Rural Areas, and a provincial digital village pilot town determined by Shandong Province in 2021.

3.2 Development foundation of digital village pilot construction

3.2.1Rural information infrastructure conditions being improved significantly. Through the implementation of the broadband China strategy, the whole town has accelerated the construction of broadband rural projects and the pilot of telecom universal service compensation. The rural Internet infrastructure has developed rapidly, and the conditions of information infrastructure have been significantly improved. By the end of 2020, the proportion of optical fiber in 57 administrative villages in the town has increased from less than 70% before the pilot of universal telecommunications service to 98% at present, and the 4G network coverage of administrative villages has reached 98%. The rural Internet users in the whole town accounted for 37.5% of the rural permanent population, and the Internet penetration rate in rural areas reached 38.5%.

3.2.2Rapid development of digital agriculture and rural digital economy. By the end of 2020, the online retail sales of agricultural products in the town had reached 8.23 million yuan, accounting for 9.8% of the total trading volume of agricultural products. Based on e-commerce of agricultural products and agricultural big data, the service products are continuously enriched, and customized agriculture, creative agriculture, adoption agriculture, cloud farm and other new formats emerge constantly. The "Internet+" agricultural socialization service is quickening, and the proportion of agricultural digital economy in the added value of agriculture has reached 7.3%.

3.2.3The construction of rural network culture beginning to start. It is mainly reflected in that the attention is paid to rural public digital cultural services and the digitization of rural excellent cultural resources, and the development of rural network education and training shows a new situation. By the end of 2020, 1 town-level digital culture service center, 3 central village service points, 57 village-level public electronic reading rooms, and digital archives of cultural relics resources of 12 famous villages and traditional villages have been established. The "national agricultural science and education cloud platform" has operated, and the number of registered users has reached 7 893, including 4 736 farmers.

3.2.4Rural governance informatization and information service system being gradually established. In some villages and communities, it begins to explore new models of "Internet+" community, focuses on exploring the construction of standardizing village committees, improves the rural governance system, promotes online publicity of party affairs, village affairs, and financial affairs, and unblocks social and public opinion, closely combines with "bright project", and promotes the construction of "safe Yidukou Town".

3.2.5The agricultural and rural information service system being gradually established and improved. The framework of organizational system and working system of agricultural and rural information services in the town has been preliminarily established. The network platform of the town center has been effectively connected with the superior website group and 12316 central platform for "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" comprehensive information services. The pilot work of information into villages and households has been rapidly promoted in 57 administrative villages, and 50 information cooperatives benefiting farmers have been built and operated.

Although the construction of digital village has made some progress and made some achievements, the overall development still lags behind[5]. It is also faced with problems such as weak foundation, scattered data resources, weak data acquisition ability and low coverage. Moreover, the construction of big data of the whole industrial chain of important agricultural products, and agricultural and rural basic data resource system has just started, and the digital application in rural areas lags significantly. The low level of rural digital governance, the lag of digital industrialization, insufficient data integration and sharing, and the low proportion of digital economy in agriculture are the prominent shortcomings of digital rural construction.

4 Thoughts and suggestions on promoting the provincial digital village pilot construction in Yidukou Town

4.1 General ideaIt should be based on the existing foundation of digital village construction in Yidukou Town. For the faced challenges and weaknesses, it should firmly grasp the important development opportunity of national and provincial promotion of digital rural construction, take Xi Jinping’s thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and the important instructions of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" as the guidance, and implement theOutlineofDigitalVillageDevelopmentStrategyand theOpinionsontheImplementationofDigitalVillageDevelopmentStrategyinShandongProvince. Focusing on the construction and improvement of digital village information infrastructure, the integration of information resources, the accelerated integration of digital technology and agriculture and rural economy, the digitization and informatization of the whole industrial chain, the construction and improvement of rural e-commerce platform, rural governance platform, convenient and beneficial information services, big data center cloud, and cloud database, it should promote the digital application in key fields in rural areas, and explore new mechanism, model and format for the development of digital village, promote the construction of digital village in the whole town at a high level and high quality, and enable the rural vitalization in the whole town and the creation of a replicable and popularized Qilu model.

4.2 System architecture

4.2.1Design principles. It should adhere to the top design requirements of industrial digitization, efficient management, online service and convenient application, and build a rural digital comprehensive service platform based on the rural and industrial characteristics of the town. According to the system architecture of a big data platform + N applications, digital village platform application, application support, data resources and infrastructure system are constructed. Taking big data platform construction as the core, and N application system as the focal point, it should strengthen data reception, data storage, data analysis and data services. N applications are to promote the integrated application of digital technology, information technology and various fields on the basis of big data platform and rural information infrastructure construction, so as to form a new mechanism, new business form and new model of rural digital economy. Meanwhile, with the help of "Internet+", it should construct public service system benefiting the people, explore a new model of rural digital governance, and enhance information service of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers", thereby providing support for sustainable development of digital village.

4.2.2System architecture. System architecture of digital village in Yidukou Town of Shandong is shown in Fig.1. System architecture of digital village in Yidukou Town includes the following components.

Fig.1 System architecture of digital village in Yidukou provincial pilot town

One center. It should build and improve the big data platform of digital village in the town, which will become the center of the digital village in the whole town. The construction of the platform will play a connecting role in the platform layer, which is used for data access, storage, analysis and service functions of various applications, connecting hardware data downward and providing data services upward.

Multiple applications. 6 application platform levels are constructed and perfected. Among them, the digital information platform of the whole industry chain includes the information construction of the whole industry chain, such as smart planting, smart processing, smart storage, smart logistics, smart quality traceability, smart brand construction,etc.The focus of the service platform for enriching people and increasing income is to establish and improve the rural e-commerce service system, increase sales channels, increase farmers’ income through the e-commerce platform, form digital e-commerce, and boost a new model and business format of rural vitalization and economic development. The focus of application platform of living and working in peace is to improve the rural security video surveillance platform based on the comprehensive promotion of "safe countryside" construction, build up and improve the Internet+epidemic monitoring system, improve the system of "honest countryside", and form a new pattern of digital rural governance supporting "live and work in peace and contentment". The focus of service platform of benefiting the people and farmers is to construct and perfect Internet+government affairs (e-government affairs), Internet+party affairs (e-party affairs), Internet+education, Internet+medical health, Internet+ rural culture and talents, and expert online consultation platform, making rural digital service form the system, more convenient and more beneficial to the people. The platform for cultivating and attracting talents is to strengthen the introduction of high-end talents and the cultivation of local talents in digital village and rural revitalization through the talent application platform in the digital village platform, strengthen talent education and training, and change the passive situation of talent shortage, so as to provide talent support for the digital village and rural revitalization. The accommodation and sharing application platform is to integrate various element resources in the town and strengthen database construction.

Sensing layer facilities. The sensing layer specifically refers to the hardware part, and the focus is to strengthen the construction and improvement of rural information infrastructure in the town and Internet of things infrastructure, and promote the construction of digital village in the whole town.

Network layer. It is the Internet system of the whole town, which is the network foundation of the whole system construction. The focus is to strengthen the construction and improvement of the network layer through the integration of resources and improve the supporting capacity of digital village construction.

3.3 Development proposalsIn order to build Yidukou provincial digital village pilot town into a Qilu model that can be copied, popularized and enable rural revitalization, it is suggested to implement six digital village action plans.

3.3.1Improve the supporting capacity of digital village information infrastructure through "strengthening the foundation" action of infrastructure. It should accelerate the improvement of rural information infrastructure in the town, further promote the deep integration of rural optical fiber broadband, mobile Internet and digital television networks in rural areas, and improve the penetration rate of rural users and network access coverage; focus on the construction of 5G network facilities and typical demonstration applications to accelerate the 5G+digital transformation; vigorously improve the network infrastructure of information society of benefiting farmers and promote the transformation of sites from quantity accumulation to quality improvement; promote the integration of network sites, focus on the construction of the architecture system including "one digital village comprehensive platform and n application platforms", highlight the construction of the information management system of the whole industrial chain, and realize the information query and quality traceability of agricultural products; build a number of smart agriculture (animal husbandry) demonstration parks by means of environmental perception, real-time monitoring, automatic control, analysis and early warning, and promote the upgrading of smart agriculture in the whole town from point to area.

3.3.2Implement the action of "enriching the people and increasing income" in rural areas to boost economic growth with digital villages. It should focus on promoting the demonstration construction of rural e-commerce. It should combine Alibaba rural Taobao "thousand counties and ten thousand villages" plan and the village to city project of national "Internet+" agricultural product, rely on Shandong Landlords Network Technology Innovation Co., Ltd., Deda Yiyuan Company, Luyan Company and other leading enterprises, Wuhuzhuang Community and other party building consortia, Yinong Information Agency and other resources, and use Internet and information technology to help the development of rural digital economy. Relying on new business entity of e-commerce (enterprises, cooperatives,etc.), network marketing and shopping experience should be conducted from multi channels and deep level, and the agricultural products online marketing and Tiktok direct sales in the town should be helped. Relying on strong-gluten wheat varieties in Yidukou Town and other advantageous agricultural products, it should organize agricultural brand enterprises and e-commerce enterprises to actively participate in various online and offline exhibitions and conferences, and strengthen the brand construction of agricultural products. It should actively explore the new model of "party branch led cooperatives+e-commerce platform+Internet", encourage the development of industrial chains such as "e-commerce enterprises+cooperatives+base+tourism+cooperative stores+live broadcasting base", promote the integration of agriculture, culture, tourism and commerce, and improve the economic development capacity of digital village.

3.3.3Implement the action of "living and working in peace and contentment" in rural governance, and enhance the safety level and emergency response capacity of digital village. It should focus on accelerating the integration of digitalization technology with social governance of rural grassroots, optimize rural governance, promote the standardization of village-level organization construction and management, and fully release the new efficiency of "Internet+ rural governance". The construction of "safe villages" should be comprehensively promoted, and the video surveillance platform for rural security should be improved. Internet+new technologies is used for real-time monitoring and management, and it should strengthen the tracking and feedback of the whole process of emergency handling, so as to grasp the village’s public opinion in real time. Using big data collision analysis and electronic fence technology, it should analyze source, residence duration and flow trend of people in the village, realize the early warning of overcrowding and improve the emergency response capacity. Meanwhile, it should improve the rural digital epidemic prevention and control system and enhance the epidemic prevention and control capacity. The operation and management of village-level assets should be further strengthened, and the online disclosure of village and finance affairs should be promoted, to create a "clean village".

3.3.4Implement the "convenience and benefit" action of rural services to enhance the supporting capacity of digital rural services. Relying on integrated platform of digital village, it should practise the model of "Internet+government affairs service" (e-government affairs), provide online service guidance, acceptance of government service matters, collaborative examination and approval, completion of matters and interactive feedback for rural people, and promote online government affairs services of "doing it all at once" and the extension of convenience services to the grass-roots level. New mode of "Internet+party building" (electronic party affairs) and smart party building should be explored, and the rural governance system of the combination of autonomy and rule of law under the leadership of party organizations should be improved, and the intelligence and informatization level of rural grass-roots governance should be promoted. "Internet+education" should be impelled, and interactive multimedia teaching equipment and high-quality digital education resources such as multimedia teaching platform and mobile learning terminal should be promoted to enter rural schools and classes. It should scientifically build an online service platform for agriculture related finance to provide policy and information support for finance servicing for rural revitalization. It should promote the rural "Internet+medical health" and impel rural telemedicine to township health centers and village clinics. It should rely on information technology to promote public services to the villages, promote information technology in all fields such as environmental protection, cultural services, express logistics, and deepen the service of benefiting people by information. Additionally, expert online consulting services should be improved.

3.3.5Implement the action of "cultivating and attracting talents" to improve the support ability of digital village talents. Relying on the leading enterprises introduced, attracted and cultivated independently, namely the established park, and demonstration base established by the party building consortium, it should establish a number of comprehensive training bases, farmers’ online schools, experimental training bases and entrepreneurship incubation bases, improve the talent training network of digital village in the town, and cultivate a number of new professional farmers and rural professionals. The construction of local talent team should be taken as a powerful starting point for promoting rural revitalization, and it should pay attention to cultivating and giving play to the role of "helping and guiding" of rural practical talents and leaders. Through the driving and leading role of the first secretary, college student village officials, large farmers, leaders of specialized cooperatives and farmers’ entrepreneurs, it can fully stimulate the endogenous driving force of agriculture and rural areas. It should promote cooperation with colleges and universities and scientific research institutions inside and outside the province, strengthen the role of "leading geese" of agricultural science and technology leading talents, further increase the support and service level of rural innovation and entrepreneurship policies for the introduced talents and local talents, ensure that talents could be attracted, retained and used well, and provide talent support for the construction of digital countryside.

3.3.6Implement the action of "accommodation and sharing" of agricultural resources to improve the support capacity of public resources in digital village. Various rural resources could be standardized and integrated through standardized data collection, data resource management, and collection and sharing platforms. It should construct agricultural and rural big data center database and application database. Through the digital construction of rural resources and needs, it should build and improve the database system of digital village characterized by "big data of agriculture, rural areas and farmers", accurately match rural resources with urban resource data, promote the digital upgrading of agricultural production process and rural management, and create engine of rural village. The guiding and exemplary role of financial funds should be given full play to. It should pry financial and social capital to invest in digital village construction while boosting the development of agricultural industry by establishing government guidance fund, special fund for e-commerce development and support fund of industrial production.