Digital challenges for new technologies implementation in agrarian Russia

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Introduction
The digital divide is an inequality related to the availability of digital technologies.This gap is often determined by two interrelated factors: access to technology and sufficient skills to use it.The Internet is an important driver of the digital divide.Limited access to the Internet in the modern world entails the loss of significant advantages and benefits.For example, people without access to the Internet lose the opportunity to obtain knowledge and skills relatively cheaply, make purchases in online stores, communicate freely at a distance and participate in society.Over the past two decades, the digital divide has been gradually narrowing.However, rural areas still lag behind urban and suburban areas, especially in Internet usage and access.The rollout of new infrastructure (such as broadband Internet access) is also lagging.As a result, in rural areas where implementation costs are high, catching up often takes years.Of course, digital inequality manifests itself in the lack of digital literacy and in the use of computers and smartphones.However, the lack of high-quality Internet is one of the most limiting factors.Lack of access to the Internet can easily lead to political and socioeconomic exclusion of people.This has a particularly strong impact on such vulnerable groups of the population as low-income citizens, pensioners and the disabled.The global pandemic of 2020 has exacerbated the effects of the digital divide.Widespread and severe restrictions isolate people from family, friends and wider society.If they don't have access to the internet or digital devices and can't connect with people in remote locations, they become even more isolated.People isolated by the digital divide will also find it difficult to access pandemic-related information, such as self-isolation rules and appropriate health advice.In addition, as telemedicine initiatives proliferate, people without access to or training in the use of appropriate equipment may be unable to obtain quality health care.High-speed broadband Internet access (BBA) is becoming increasingly important for the national economy and the personal lives of users.However, broadband availability and adoption are not spreading across rural and urban areas at the same rate.J. Prager's article shows that empirical estimates based on US data suggest that rural areas have fewer highspeed fixed-line and mobile providers and more low-speed fixed-line providers than urban areas.Mobile broadband penetration in rural areas is lower than in cities, but helps replace the lack of fixed broadband.The digital divide associated with fixed broadband in rural areas persists.The gap in broadband usage between rural and urban areas is larger for lowincome households.[1] The authors of another study calculated a digital economy development index based on data for 194 Chinese cities for the period from 2011 to 2018.The analysis revealed that there is a U-shaped relationship between the development of the digital economy and income inequality between urban and rural populations.In addition, the study revealed digital inequality in different regions due to different stages of urbanization.[2] This article provides empirical data on achieving balanced development of rural and urban areas in developing countries within the framework of the digital economy.
The digital divide has become particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, including as a major challenge to e-learning practices.One study on this issue surveyed 492 Chinese middle school students and found a digital divide between rural and urban students.Intrinsic motivation, e-learning self-efficacy, parental and teacher support were identified as the main reasons for the digital divide.[3] These factors can largely explain the gap in e-learning outcomes between urban and rural students.
The coronavirus pandemic, which has created challenging economic conditions, and the digital divide have impacted the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to operate.Rural enterprises, especially SMEs, are subject to a lower level of digitalization compared to their urban counterparts, and this digital divide affects their entrepreneurial activity.For example, one study found that infrastructure investment had improved digital connectivity in rural Wales, but many rural businesses had yet to go digital.The most significant variables influencing the satisfaction of rural enterprises with digital connectivity are location and distance from the city.The coronavirus pandemic has limited many business processes.Businesses without access to the Internet and digital technologies are more limited in their ability to run a sustainable business.[4] The ongoing digital transformation and digitalization of services has a significant impact on people's daily lives.Digital transformation has a complex impact, with both positive and negative consequences for the well-being of the population.The reduction in the provision of services in rural areas may be caused by digitalization and concentration of these services.At the same time, digital transformation also creates new opportunities to improve the well-being of the rural population.Thus, an analysis of the situation in rural areas of Finland indicates a rather positive impact of digitalization associated with gaining access to services that were previously unavailable in rural areas.The growth of remote work associated with digitalization also provides new opportunities for rural areas.[5] 2 Method N. Safiullin and S. Kuksin in their article presented the results of a comparative analysis of the digital divide in cities and villages of the Russian Federation.All indicators selected for the study confirm that urban residents are more active users of digital technologies.The urgent digital transformation of agriculture and the acquisition of digital competencies by rural residents in the near future requires significant investments.A sociological survey conducted by N. Safiullin and S. Kuksin in 2020 showed that the lack of widespread electronic interaction between rural residents and government authorities is largely due to low computer literacy (32.2% of respondents), technical limitations in access to networks ( 29.9%) and low awareness of the rural population about the possibilities of such exchanges (27.4%).[6] M. Dudin, S. Shkodinsky and A. Anishchenko note that there is a significant technological lag in the issue of smart growth of agribusiness based on digital solutions and technologies.The lack of funding for digitalization projects, the lack of personnel in the agro-industrial complex with digital competencies and the internal resistance of personnel to digital reforms are identified as the main challenges to the implementation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm in the Russian agro-industrial complex.In their opinion, the main goal of digitalization of the Russian agro-industrial complex is the creation of a multifunctional virtual marketplace platform.[7] V. Tarasov, V. Ershov and E. Abrashkina in their article consider the problems and trends in the introduction of digital technologies in agriculture.It is concluded that large agricultural enterprises, due to their greater financial capabilities and investment attractiveness, are more likely to gain access to digital technologies than small and medium-sized companies.Digitalization is difficult for small rural enterprises to master, which leads to inequality in opportunities for farms of different sizes.However, digitalization can integrate small farmers into the digital agriculture system.[8] The authors of another study examined institutional and legal measures to mitigate the negative consequences of digitalization of agriculture.It was found that there is a lack of research on the digital transformation of agriculture.The priority directions of the state, in their opinion, should be the acquisition of digital competencies by farmers and the prevention of a digital divide between economic agents who benefit from the use of agricultural products in the form of food or raw materials.[9] S. Zemtsov, K. Demidova and D. Kichaev, in their study on the demand for digital technologies during the pandemic, found that there are significant differences between Russian regions in the skills and ability to use such technologies.By 2020, Internet penetration had accelerated in most regions and the digital divide had narrowed.The largest agglomerations and northern regions are in the lead in terms of Internet penetration.Regions with a high share of rural population are lagging behind.The dependence of access to the Internet on the level of education, average age and income of the population is shown.Despite the transition of the digitalization process to the saturation stage, there remains a two-fold gap between regions in access to the Internet and a multiple gap in the use of digital technologies.[10] In the context of regions, the differentiation of the skills of the population also turns out to be very significant, which becomes another prerequisite for the formation of a digital divide in the Russian Federation [11].In this situation, the issue of informing the population about the advantages of digital technologies is important [12].
As part of this study, it was decided to build a logistic regression to study the digital divide in rural areas and its predictors.The dependent variable is the number of individuals who have not used the Internet in the past 12 months.Average age, gender, income, disability, education and employment are selected as independent variables.
The source of data is the annual Russian Monitoring of the Economic Situation and Health of the Population of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (RMES NRU HSE).[13] This monitoring is carried out as a series of nationally representative surveys based on a probabilistic stratified multi-stage territorial sample, developed with the participation of the world's leading experts in this field.

Findings
The results presented in Table 1 show the profile of rural residents without Internet access in 2019-2021.Share of women in the total number of rural residents who did not have access to the Internet in the last 12 months, % 57.2 57.9 55.9 Based on the results obtained, it was revealed that the number of rural people without access to the Internet decreased by 5.6% in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and by 4.8% in 2021.The majority of people without Internet access are elderly People.The average age has increased from 62 in 2019 to 65 in 2021.The share of women in the total number of rural residents who did not have access to the Internet decreased slightly and amounted to 55.9% in 2021.More than 30% of people without Internet access had incomplete secondary education in 2019-2021.About 15% of people without internet access were disabled in 2019-2021.The share of unemployed and pensioners in the total number of rural residents who did not have access to the Internet in the last 12 months grew from 2019 to 2021 and amounted to 84.9%.Logistic regression models were then constructed.The results of the first logistic regression for 2019 data are presented in Table 2.There were 2685 observations.Pseudo R2 is 0.3860, Prob > chi2 is 0.0000.All indicators in Table 2 except for the indicator "Presence of disability" have a p-value <0.05.A positive sign in front of the coefficients indicates that an increase in these indicators increases the risk of falling into the group of rural residents without access to the Internet.
The results of the second logistic regression for 2020 data are presented in table .3. There were 2595 observations.Pseudo R2 is 0.3906, Prob > chi2 is 0.000.

Conclusion
In rural Russia, lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the impact of the digital divide on rural communities and led to socio-economic consequences due to limited opportunities.As a result of the implementation of social isolation and quarantine measures, lack of Internet access has become a major risk for vulnerable groups of the rural population.As a result, they are deprived of the vital resources they need to overcome the pandemic economically, socially and educationally.Using long-term data from the National Research University Higher School of Economics (RLMS), data on the presence of digital technologies in the lives of households, and their inclusion in the digital society, a profile of rural residents who did not have access to the Internet was identified.Their average age has increased from 62 in 2019 to 65 in 2021.The share of women in the total number of rural residents who did not have access to the Internet decreased slightly and amounted to 55.9% in 2021.More than 30% of people without Internet access had incomplete secondary education in 2019-2021.About 15% of people without internet access were disabled in 2019-2021.The share of unemployed and pensioners in the total number of rural residents who did not have access to the Internet in the last 12 months grew from 2019 to 2021 and amounted to 84.9%.Three logit regressions were constructed to examine the digital divide and its predictors.In 2019, 2020 and 2021, an increase in the same indicators increases the risk of residents without access to the Internet falling into the group.Such predictors include incomplete secondary education, lack of work, old age and disability.All of them are challenges for further digitalization of the Russian agricultural sector.

Table 1 .
Profile of rural residents without access to the Internet in 2019-2021

Table 2 .
Logistic regression results for 2019 data

Table 3 .
The results of the second logistic regression for 2020 dataIn 2020, all indicators in Table2except for the indicator "Presence of disability" have a pvalue <0.05.As in 2019, the same coefficients have a positive sign.Interpretation of logistic regression coefficients allows us to draw a number of conclusions.A positive sign in front of the coefficients indicates that an increase in these indicators increases the risk of falling into the group of rural residents without access to the Internet.Thus, for rural residents with incomplete secondary education, the probability of being among those without access to the Internet is 2.6 times higher compared to persons with completed secondary education, provided that all other input variables remain unchanged.People without work are 79% more likely to be non-digital than employed individuals.The results of the third logistic regression for 2021 data are presented in table.4.There were 2623 observations.Pseudo R2 is 0.4051, Prob > chi2 is 0.000.

Table 4 .
The results of the third logistic regression for 2021 data Comparing regression results for 2019, 2020 and 2021 shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the likelihood of rural residents without a completed secondary education, older age, unemployed or with disabilities falling into the digital divide.As a result, their social deprivation during self-isolation and upon emerging from it increased.