In June 2006, the Government of Indonesia introduced a new agricultural extension approach called Participatory Extension. The main focus of the approach is the active involvement of smallholder farmers in the planning and implementation of extension programs. The new law, Law Number 16/2006, specifically stressed the implementation of an extension program that is "decentralized, participatory, transparent, self-initiated, equitable in partnership" and has accountability (Article 3, point c.). It has been eight years since the policy was introduced and long enough to determine how well the policy is working. Therefore, this study assessed the effectiveness of the policy. The specific objectives of the study were:
1. To describe the characteristics of extension agents in the Malang Regency;
2. To examine extension agents' perceptions of the effectiveness of the policy;
3. To examine the challenges, if any, extension agents encountered in implementing the new approach;
4. To describe agents' training needs in implementing the new approach; and
5. To assess the need for Communication for Development (C4D) in strengthening extension in Indonesia.
The study was a survey-- an interview of all 153 extension agents in the Regency of Malang, East Java Province, Indonesia in October/November 2013. Of the 153 questionnaires distributed, 126 were of usable quality, yielding a response rate of 82.4%. The Cronbach's Alpha values of 12 sections of Likert-type questions were between 0.580 and 0.975, with many of them more than 0.800.
The main findings were as follows. With respect to Objective 1, there were two main findings. One was that the training of the majority of extension agents was in agricultural subject matter. Of the 126 respondents who answered this question, only 22 or (17.5%) specialized in agricultural extension. The rest were trained in technical agricultural subjects. One-third or 42 respondents specialized in agro-ecotechnology (covering agronomy, soil science, and plant protection); 21 (16.7%) were agricultural economics/agribusiness and the rest covered specializations, such as animal science, post-harvest agri-technology. Another significant finding related to Objective 1 was a high extension workload. The study found that an extension agent served anywhere between 173 to 413 farmers, which was double than the Ministry of Agriculture's recommendation. On Objective 2, almost all respondents (97.6%, n=123) reported following the participatory extension approach. However, only 40 respondents (31.7%) said it was successful. The majority of 76 respondents (60.3%) considered "somewhat successful" and the rest checked "No," Don't know" or simply did not answer. To Objective 3, about half of the respondents (64 respondents or 50.8%) said they faced no problems. However, the rest cited several problems the main ones being: 1) lack of farmer participation; lack of funding; unavailability of a cross-sector extension forum; lack of skills to work with agents from other organizations; and unavailability of extension tools. Objective 4 assessed the training needs of extension agents in implementing the new approach. Almost 95.2% (n=120) expressed the need for in-service training to enhance their job performance. The most needed areas of training were: a) the use of new media/information technology (cited by 75.40% respondents, n=95); marketing of agricultural products (65.87%, n=83), and appropriate agricultural technology (64.29%, n=81). Lastly, Objective 5 assessed the need for Communication for Development (C4D) in strengthening extension in Indonesia. The study revealed a need for training on: 1) contemporary issues of development and communication (such as integrated rural development, participatory extension; a system view of extension, and integrated communication media); and 2) communication skills (such as listening, supervision, lobbying, grant writing and fund raising, leadership, and ICT operation/social media).
A general conclusion is that the new extension system is not working as effectively as it should be due to communication problems. Therefore, the study concluded that a C4D strategy framework will provide extension agents with the communication skills they need in mobilizing farmers for participatory decision-making. Thus, the researcher recommends incorporating C4D methodology in Indonesia's extension system.