Effect of Taobao village certification on agricultural fertilizers and pesticides usage in China

Abstract

Employing the Taobao village certification (TVC) as an exogenous policy shock and leveraging balanced panel data at the county level from 2007 to 2021, our multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) analysis reveals that the TVC reduces agricultural fertilizers and pesticides usage by 5 % to 10 %. This environmental benefit primarily stems from facilitating labor transfer and advocating for environmentally sustainable agriculture. Moreover, a more pronounced pollution reduction effect is observed in counties with higher marketisation level and major grain-producing areas. Our paper holds significant practical implications for rural environmental governance and potentially for other agricultural powerhouses where e-commerce is flourishing.