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The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to measure farmers' health poverty, (2) to examine the effect of health vulnerability on health poverty and (3) to identify countermeasures that may alleviate health poverty in rural China.

This study built a health poverty measurement model based on the multi-dimensional poverty framework to evaluate farmers' health vulnerability. Further, this paper used an econometric model to assess the impact of health vulnerability on health poverty. The sample for this study comprised 1,115 rice farmers from Hubei province, China.

The medical affordability poverty ratio was 17.95%, where farmers in the low-income group faced severe medical affordability poverty (27.46%). Results from the multi-dimensional analysis showed that, the health poverty ratios were 17.95 and 30.50%, respectively. Our results indicated that climate change vulnerabilities, living habits, medical facilities and medical accessibility were positively related to health poverty, whereas the regular physical examinations reduced mental health poverty.

Based on this study's findings, we proposed that: (1) to address illness-induced poverty among members of the agricultural community, national and provincial strategies and programs grounded on a multi-dimensional health poverty framework ought to be formulated and implemented, (2) mechanisms of health knowledge exchange may facilitate the improvement of farmers' health status, (3) robust and comprehensive metrics should be employed to understand and improve farmers' ability to absorb and mitigate the negative health impacts and (4) the improvement in both quality and quantity for medical facilities and medical affordability in the rural areas should be key priorities in governmental-wide initiatives.

Existing studies for alleviating poverty caused by disease mainly focus on medical service support to those economic vulnerabilities after a disease happens. However, few studies have focused on the root causes of poverty caused by disease, particularly from the preventive perspective of health vulnerability. To fill this gap, this study, therefore, proposes the health poverty index and analyzes the impact of health vulnerability on health poverty.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of agricultural internet information (AII) acquisition on climate-resilient variety adoption among rice farmers in the Jianghan Plain region of China. Additionally, it explores the influencing channels involved in this process.

Based on survey data for 877 rice farmers from 10 counties in the Jianghan Plain, China, this paper used an econometric approach to estimate the impact of AII acquisition on farmers’ adoption of climate-resilient varieties. A recursive bivariate Probit model was used to address endogeneity issues and obtain accurate estimates. Furthermore, three main influencing mechanisms were proposed and tested, which are broadening information channels, enhancing social interactions and improving agricultural skills.

The results show that acquiring AII can overall enhance the likelihood of farmers adopting climate-resilient varieties by 36.8%. The three influencing channels are empirically confirmed. Besides, educational attainment, income and peer effects can facilitate farmers’ acquisition of AII, while climate conditions and age significantly influence the adoption of climate-resilient varieties.

Practical recommendations are put forward to help farmers build climate resilience, including investing in rural internet infrastructures, enhancing farmers’ digital literacy and promoting the dissemination of climate-resilient information through diverse internet platforms.

Strengthening climate resilience is essential for sustaining the livelihoods of farmers and ensuring national food security; however, the role of internet information has received limited attention. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the casual relationship between internet information and climate resilience, which fills the research gap.