Farmer’s perception of the performance of a field agricultural extension agent during Covid-19 pandemic in Jember Regency

Abstract

The Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia has an impact to agriculture and extension activities. Agricultural extension activities during the Covid-19 pandemic were carried out used online media such as Whatsapp Groups, Youtube and radio, whereas extension activities involving many people were temporarily removed. Agricultural extension agents are agents of change related with farmers. So that, it is important for farmers to evaluate the performance of agricultural extension workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, so that the benefits of extension activities can feel by all farmers. The purpose of this study was to analyze the perceptions and factors that influence farmers’ perceptions to the performance of Field Agricultural Extension during the Covid-19 pandemic in Jember Regency. This research is located in Jember Regency and was conducted from July 2021 to December 2021. The sampling technique was cluster random sampling with a total of 200 respondents. The data collected in this study were analyzed by statistical descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression model analysis. The results show that farmers’ perceptions of the performance of agricultural extension workers during the Covid-19 pandemic are very satisfied. The factors that influence the perception of farmers are the frequency of extension, the level of farmer’s participation, and farmer’s knowledge. Meanwhile farmer’s experience, farmer’s group class, and land tenure had no effect on farmers’ perceptions of the extension workers’ performance.