Peningkatan Kapasitas Penyuluh Pertanian Melalui Literasi Media Cyber Extension

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze (1) the literacy level of agricultural extension agents using cyber extension and that factors influencing, (2) the level of agricultural extension capacity and that factors influencing, and (3) the level of farmer satisfaction and that factors influencing. The research location was in the West Java Province which was limited to four districts, representing four agricultural ecosystem zones, namely Bogor, Sukabumi, Ciamis, and Indramayu Regencies. The research samples consisted of 216 field agricultural extension agents spread across the four districts. Partial Least Square (PLS-Path Modeling) was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the level of access, information management, integration, creation, and communication in cyber extension literacy is in the medium category, while evaluation is in the high category. The factors significantly affected to cyber extension literacy were work motivation and frequency of using social media as a learning resource. The high category includes extension capacity such as the ability to facilitate information, the ability to develop leadership, the ability to develop entrepreneurial management, the ability to develop the organization, the ability to solve problems, the ability to preserve the environment, and the ability to institutionalize values. The factors that significantly effect to agricultural extension agents capacity were level of innovation needs of farmers, level of development of extension agents and level of need for innovation technology sources, level of access, evaluation and creation in cyber extension. The level of farmer satisfaction, which includes the provision of information and the provision of problem-solving solutions, falls into the high category. The factors that significantly effect to farmer’s satisfaction were agricultural extension agents capacity.