Abstract:

[Significance] Digital literacy is essential for farming and herding households to integrate into digital financial markets and access credit services. Against the backdrop of the rapid development of inclusive digital finance, a systematic review of existing research on the relationship between digital literacy and the borrowing behaviour of farming and herding households is significant for deepening rural financial theory, revealing the mechanisms underlying the digital divide and formulating targeted digital financial policies for rural and pastoral areas. This paper focuses on farming and herding households, emphasising that, in a fintech-driven environment, digital literacy influences access to financing, economic resilience, and sustainable development capabilities, and is not merely a matter of technological adoption. [Progress] It is found that the concept of digital literacy had undergone a progressive evolution from information literacy, internet literacy, and media literacy to digital literacy, gradually forming a comprehensive competency framework that encompassed multiple dimensions, including information retrieval, communication and collaboration, content creation, and security. About measurement, the EU's DigComp 2.2 and UNESCO's DLGF had been adopted extensively. Domestic research had constructed indicator systems across multiple dimensions, including general, social, creative, security, and financial aspects. However, the adaptability of existing measurement tools in pastoral contexts remained insufficient. Regarding the loan behaviour of farming and herding households, extant research was found to focus primarily on financing accessibility, the "last-mile" bottlenecks in rural finance, and the role of digital literacy in promoting digital financial services. The accessibility of financing was influenced by a multitude of factors, including individual and household characteristics, social capital, the policy environment, and technological development. Rural financial bottlenecks were identified as the result of several challenges, such as poor institutional transmission, insufficient technological adaptation, lack of resource guarantees, and mismatched service design. Digital literacy was demonstrated to enhance the availability of both formal and informal credit for farming and herding households by means of improving information access efficiency, expanding social networks, increasing credit visibility, and optimising risk identification. It was also shown to play a positive role in promoting income growth, technology adoption, and economic resilience. [Conclusions and Prospects] The extant research was found to confirm the positive impact of digital literacy on the loan-taking behaviour of farming and herding households. However, significant limitations remained to be addressed. Firstly, the research perspective had been primarily focused on agricultural areas and farming households, with a severe lack of specialised studies on pastoral areas and herding households, thereby overlooking the unique circumstances of pastoral areas, such as the seasonal nature of production, the biological nature of assets, and the dispersed nature of settlements. Secondly, digital literacy measurement tools were inadequately adapted to pastoral contexts, failing to cover core pastoral production scenarios such as pasture monitoring, remote livestock management, and e-commerce sales. Thirdly, research on the underlying mechanisms remained superficial; specifically, how digital literacy influenced borrowing behaviour through intermediary pathways such as social capital, financial knowledge, and risk preference, particularly the differentiated mechanisms between formal and informal channels, had yet to be clarified. Fourthly, difficulties in data acquisition and limitations in research methods were found to have constrained the reliability of causal inferences. Fifthly, there was a mismatch between digital finance policies and the actual needs of pastoral areas. It was recommended that future research efforts concentrate on the development of a theoretical analytical framework and measurement system that was specifically tailored to the pastoral context. This was to be accompanied by the advancement of large-scale, long-term micro-surveys and the development of panel data. Researchers were also advised to actively incorporate methods such as experimental economics and machine learning into their studies. Furthermore, there was a need to deepen the analysis of stratified studies on the internal heterogeneity of herding households. The implementation outcomes of existing digital inclusive finance policies and training programmes were to be systematically evaluated. Additionally, it was considered crucial to proactively address emerging topics such as green credit, insurtech and supply chain finance. Finally, critical issues including digital risk governance and algorithmic fairness were noted as requiring due attention. This provides both theoretical support and practical guidance for ensuring that digital finance benefits a wide range of farmers and herders in a more precise and equitable manner.

Key words: digital literacy, farmers and herdsmen, loan behavior, digital inclusive finance, heterogeneity