Role of Extension Workers in Promoting Integrated Farming System Sustainability in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Adoption of integrated larming systems can be a sttlution to many agricultural problems in Indonesia. The technology transl'er model can be used to analyz- e the dissemination process, which emphasizes the role of extension to promote the innovation. This research aimed to examine the relationships among three variables that determine the role of extension workers in promoting integrated tarming system sustainability. Those variables were attitude, leader5hip, and inlbrmation access. A field survey using a closed-ended questionnaire was applied to collect data. There were 93 selected respondents from extension workers in the Food Security and Agricultural Extension Agency in tbur regencies in Yogyakarta Province. The results showed that all respondents had high levels of attitude, leadership, and infbrmation access toward integrated farming systems. A Pearson correla- !on test was applied to examine the relationships among attitude, leadership, and information access. The leadership of extension workers indicated significant relationships to attitude (p < 0.01) and infbrmation access (p < 0.01). This study showed that leadership of extension workers is an important variable to foster the sustainability of integrated f'arming systems. It could also generate efl'ectiveness of technology transt'er to farmers. Therefbre, the leadership capacity of extension workers should be enhanced in order to ease the adoption of integrated f-arming systems at the grassroots level