Strategies for developing extension worker’s performance during the covid-19 pandemic in Bulukumba Regency

Extension activities in Indonesia and even the world have experienced many changes since the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. This study aims to formulate a strategy for developing extension workers performance that can be applied during the Covid-19 pandemic in Bulukumba Regency. Descriptive qualitative method with analysis SWOT applied. The results of this study show the effectiveness of individual face-to-face communication and communication with cellular telephone media, increasing the competence of extension workers in terms of information technology and communication, the assimilation of supporting facilities and infrastructure in the form of telecommunications devices (computers/laptops and internet quotas, including the improvement of an internet connection system that is evenly distributed throughout the region and p Social network strengthen and trust between extension workers, farmers, and other stakeholders is an important strategy to implement to develop the performance of extension workers in the Covid-19.


Introduction
As one of the extension institutions located at the sub-district level, the Agricultural Extension Center (BPP) is a central point in the extension organizational structure because, in addition to accepting delegation of tasks and translating policies from the upper structure, it is also required to understand problems and accommodate farmers' aspirations, as well as organize counseling in their work areas.Many changes have occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.The most significant difference is the adoption of a safe counseling strategy governed by health guidelines and existing rules.Counseling methods and media counseling must evolve.The limitation of extension agents' ability to deliver direct material is a difficulty in preparing extension programs, thus an appropriate strategy is required to reach the community and farmers while simultaneously carrying out extension agents' responsibility of providing information on new knowledge or innovations.It is thought that this will help farmers and breeders survive and produce in the agriculture sector during the pandemic [1].Agricultural Extension Officers innovate in their extension tasks amid a pandemic.Before the pandemic, all extension efforts could be done face-to-face.It is currently impossible.To avoid this difficult situation, agricultural extension workers must be able to innovate their extension.
Agricultural extension services are still being provided in Bulukumba Regency in order to boost agricultural production in order to meet domestic food needs, so that domestic food availability is not jeopardized by restricted access to foreign trade.In its efforts, the government promotes local production, which includes manufacturing facilities such as agricultural machinery and equipment,

Results and discussion
Two things influence an extension worker's performance: [3] (1) In this situation, agricultural extension workers' performance is a function of an individual or personal characteristic; these personal qualities are objective features of the extension workers collected from their records.Individual qualities of extension workers are characteristics that a person possesses that are related to aspects of life and the environment.Gender, age, education, duration of service, family dependents, employment status, number of training, and subsequent length of service are all internal determinants for agricultural extension employees, and (2) Performance is a situational influence including differences in management and the implementation of counseling which is hereinafter referred to as the factor external in the form of environmental factors that affect include the number of assisted villages, the number of assisted farmer groups, official vehicle support, available IT facilities, village distance fostered with residence, the influence of the distance between the assisted village and the place of residence, the status of the assisted village experiencing local restrictions/lockdowns and there are differences in carrying out coaching during Covid-19.The Covid-19 outbreak has not prevented extension workers from accompanying and guiding farmers in their target areas.
However, there have been changes in the implementation of counseling during the Covid-19 pandemic.The results of the study, as shown in Table 14, showed that 68.19% of Covid-19 outbreaks did not affect the performance of agricultural extension workers in carrying out counseling in their target areas.During the Covid-19 pandemic, agricultural extension workers in the three study areas continued to carry out assistance to farmers even though there were certain rules that were carried out based on the provisions of health protocols during the Covid-19 pandemic.Agricultural extension workers of Bulukumba Regency stated that extension activities are still being carried out during the pandemic because they continue to accompany farmers in the field and continue to report planting area (LTT), area added harvest (LTP), accompany farmers for rice seedbeds and BPP extension workers remain present and remain active during the pandemic.
The method of training, visiting, and supervision during the pandemic is still running.The difference between counseling before and during the pandemic lies in the timing of activities and the number of visits.Before the pandemic visits groups once a month, during the pandemic once in two months.Extension activities through direct contact with BPP farmers/extension workers in the field are no longer carried out (following the institution's policy).A few months after the outbreak of the pandemic and after the WFH policy was lifted, BPP extension workers began to have contact with farmers in the field by implementing health protocols, namely wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining a minimum distance of one meter

Identification of internal and external data
The performance of an extension worker can be seen from two factors, namely: (1) that performance is a function of individual or personal characteristics in this case agricultural extension workers, these personal characteristics are objective characteristics of extension workers obtained from their records.Individual characteristics are traits possessed by a person that relate to aspects of life and the environment.The characteristics of the extension worker can affect motivation, and work productivity, which in turn is reflected in his performance; (2) performance is situational influences including differences in the management and implementation of counseling, value systems, land potential, power, programs, community participation, financing, and support for facilities and infrastructure, individual characteristics which include age, gender, marital status, length of service, work experience, level of education, training, number of dependents, affecting a person's performance.
Table 1 shows that productive age level, undergraduate education level, lengthy service time, modest family dependent burden, government servants, and restricted training intensity are internal characteristics of agricultural extension workers that affect extension performance.Age itself is not a psychological influence, but what age causes is.The lower the work of the muscles, the lower the work of the senses, which all impair the ability of learning power as one gets older.Counseling is a process, and the Covid-19 epidemic is a condition that restricts the effectiveness of the counseling process.As a result, agricultural counseling during the Covid-19 outbreak involves psychological abilities in planning and arranging effective and efficient counseling with all health protocol requirements that must be followed and counseling aims that can still be fulfilled.The age of productive vulnerability is a psychological element of agricultural extension workers that influences muscle performance, which is deteriorating, so that the extension process does not operate well during the Covid-19 epidemic.Professionalism among agricultural extension workers is becoming increasingly important in order to react to the changing needs and dynamics of the developing population, including the current Covid-19 pandemic.Because they interact directly with clients in the field, extension workers are at the forefront of counseling implementation.The requests for professionalism and change must be met by initiatives to strengthen the skills of agricultural extension workers.A challenge for agricultural extension workers is the transition in extension method from top-down to participatory by offering opportunities for the community to be as active as feasible in problem solutions.As thus, the success of counseling is strongly connected with the quality of agricultural extension workers in the field, as it relates to the quantity of formal education they get.Formal education for agricultural extension workers is a requirement of the profession and a rising society.This means that attending formal school is intended to improve his talents, attitudes, and skills in response to the demands of his employment as an extension worker.The age level of agricultural extension workers is in the category of productive threshold 2.
The last level of education is generally undergraduate/equivalent 3.
Long service life of extension workers 4.
The burden of family dependents is relatively small 5.
Employment status is generally civil servants 6 Highest training intensity 7 Decreased work motivation External Factors 1 Extension Areas are generally ideal (1 village 1 extension officer) 2 The number of assisted farmer groups is relatively large Generally, extension workers have official vehicles 3 IT infrastructure is still limited (sub-district scale) 4 The distance between Binanan village and domicile is generally close 5 Internet media that are generally owned by agricultural extension workers (cellphones and laptops) 6 Local restrictions/lockdowns in assisted village areas 7 The workload of extension workers during the Covid-19 pandemic is not much different from before 8 Limited extension budget 9 Hard-to-reach terrain The level of education of the extension worker is the most recent education, as evidenced by the existence of the most recent diploma in the name of the extension worker in question.The findings revealed that the degree of education of extension workers in Bulukumba Regency is rather high, with the ability to have knowledge, abilities, experience, and attitudes in carrying out tasks, particularly during the current Covid-19 pandemic.The work term of the extension worker is a crucial component since the longer the work period, the better the extension worker will understand his field of work, which is his obligation.The work period makes workers more productive, which affects performance.[4] The working period of extension workers benefits relatively fresh extension employees, whereas long-term extension workers demonstrate a low amount of 'client' power.Covid-19 is an outbreak scenario that should not be ignored, although it is not likely to impede field implementation of agricultural extension.
The ability of extension workers refers to the capability for extension workers to carry out their jobs more effectively.The higher the degree of extension workers' talents, the better agricultural extension workers perform in carrying out their primary obligations.This is reinforced by Robbins' (2016) opinion, who believes that ability is an individual's capacity to accomplish numerous activities in a job.Humans will behave differently in terms of skills since their abilities differ.Different levels of human ability cause people to behave differently.These characteristics are then weighted, and their cumulative value ranges from 1.00 (extremely important) to 0.00 (very indicating that they give inputs and outputs on agricultural extension workers' performance during the Covid-19 pandemic.All of these weights must add up to a total score of 1.00.The largest strength rating is given a value of 4, but if the strength is small to the performance of agricultural extension workers, it is given a rating of 1, whereas a weakness rating is given a value of 1 if the weakness factor is large-scale and a value of 4 if it has a high effect.The results of the weighting and rating scales in the internal scale can be seen in Table 4.The average strength factor of 0.49 is bigger than the average value of the weakness factor of 0.27 for cumulative values.This situation implies that the greatest variables influencing agricultural extension workers' performance outweigh the disadvantages that will impede their ability to carry out their tasks and obligations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stages of analysis.
The main weaknesses that affect agricultural extension workers' performance are (1) low work motivation and (2) low training intensity, whereas the main strengths that affect agricultural extension workers' performance are (1) a long work period for extension workers and (2) the employment status of generally civil servants.
Based on these results, it is essential to provide training in order to increase the work motivation of agricultural extension workers by exploiting the extension workers' long work time during the Covid-19 epidemic.The long time of work is, of course, a strength for agricultural extension workers in carrying out their tasks and obligations in the field because it is related to their work experience and abilities that are adequate to master the working conditions as an agricultural extension worker.Covid-19, despite its limitations, has been able to lower extension workers' motivation because extension workers' routines and ways of working that require them to come into direct touch with their farmers are compelled to move to a different style of working than the prior one.5 shows that the rating determination for the average cumulative value of the opportunity factor is 0.41, which is more than the value of the threat factor, which is only 0.2.This position implies that the opportunity variables influencing agricultural extension workers' performance outweigh the hazards that will impede extension workers' ability to carry out their tasks and obligations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, each factor's total score value can be detailed: strength 0.49, weakness 0.27, opportunity 0.41, and threats 0.21.As a result, the difference in total scores for the strength and weakness factors is (+) 0.22, while the difference in total scores for the opportunity and threat factors is (+) 0.20.The method that can be used to improve agricultural extension effectiveness during the Covid-9 epidemic is to exploit strengths, eliminate weaknesses, and utilize current possibilities.to overcome threats that may force agricultural extension employees to perform poorly.Table 6 details different techniques for improving agricultural extension success during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Cartesius SWOT Analysis of Agricultural Extension
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the implementation of socialization activities changed, and most mentoring methods shifted from face-to-face to media (SMS, WhatsApp, telephone, zoom, and YouTube live streaming) or electronic media (broadcasting, TV) to communicate, and video media for farmers who do not have mobile phones or internet access.The number of extension activities is likewise decreasing.Extension workers assist farmers in gaining (1) filter power (smart: access to broad information/innovation, open to changes/improvements) today, (2) competitiveness (work: effective, efficient, and quality), and (3) proactive adaptability in order to be ready and able to adapt to changes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Community social capital plays a role in avoiding the spread of Covid-19, specifically through maintaining social separation socialized by extension workers.Agricultural extension workers' contact skills and social networks can be used to assist farmers in gaining access to health care and marketing agricultural products.
During the epidemic, extension workers acquired knowledge from webinars on various topics and offline training from speakers from various institutions, which was cut by 80%.The majority of information on farmers was gathered from friends/relatives/neighbors before and during the Covid-19 outbreak, while extension workers were obtained individually.Access to information for extension workers is somewhat easy during the Covid-19 outbreak because online media does not distinguish time and space.Farmers' access to information has been limited as a result of social constraints during the pandemic.As a result, the technical office's preference for counseling efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic is critical.This relates to supporting facilities and infrastructure, in this case telecommunications devices (computers/laptops and internet quotas, including improvements to the internet connection system that is evenly distributed throughout the region) that allow extension workers to access information from various sources.Furthermore, by analyzing the needs of extension workers by region (advanced, developing, and underdeveloped), it is necessary to increase the competence of extension workers in terms of information and communication technology.

ST (Strength-Threat) Strategy.
This technique is a combination of internal (strengths) and external (threats) components, and it is designed to leverage the power that extension workers have to overcome threats.The ST strategy pursued by agricultural extension workers is the availability of supporting facilities and infrastructure in the form of telecommunications devices (computers/laptops and internet quotas, including the improvement of a regionally distributed internet connection system).In Africa, extension technology is being used with growing ingenuity, with IVR (interactive voice response) being used as a medium for distributing information that is easily accessible to extension workers and farmers.This system uses the options supplied to automatically answer phone inquiries [6].

WO (Weakness-Opportunity) Strategy.
This technique is a combination of internal elements (weakness) and external factors (opportunities); it is used to maximize current opportunities while minimizing existing weaknesses.The WO strategy undertaken by agricultural extension workers is to improve extension employees' proficiency in information technology and communication.Agricultural extension training is provided in Indonesia to strengthen extension agents' competency in the use of online media or online media cyber extension, according to [7].This is in line with the Ministry of Agriculture's plan to establish an Agriculture Operation Room (AOR) to serve as a training facility for agricultural extension personnel.This training focuses on teaching extension workers in the use of information technology and technology in the industrial era 4.0, which can be done remotely over the internet (e-learning), and is centered on a single AOR that covers practically the entire country of Indonesia.
According to the data source [8], the Indian government partnered with extension institutions to offer training for extension workers and farmers in the form of training agripreneurship.Extension employees will be taught by extension and agriculture specialists such as professors and researchers to deliver knowledge about agripreneurship and markets to farmers.Farmers are then given extension services as well as information on the pandemic and new advances.The majority of media is consumed through internet-based information and communication technology, primarily WhatsApp.

WT (Weakness-Threat)
Strategy.This strategy is a combination of internal factors (weaknesses) and external factors (threats), this strategy is based on defensive activities and tries to minimize existing weaknesses and avoid threats.The WT strategy pursued by agricultural extension workers is to strengthen social networks and trust between extension workers, farmers, and other stakeholders.Counseling is not just an activity that is partial and short-term sporadic but counseling is an activity that is carried out thoroughly with very long stages and continuous.
Counseling is a learning process that influences behavior modification based on the target's own needs.The desire, ability, and ability to advance the potential that exists in farmers so that the wisdom of a positive facility atmosphere will give rise to the efficacy of performance in carrying out its obligations and responsibilities is the principle of agricultural extension.The diagram of courtesies demonstrates that the Agricultural Extension Performance Development Strategy The Covid-19 Pandemic is in the Growth quadrant, which is a highly positive scenario.After combining strength with an opportunity or SO strategy, a strength factor is obtained that must be maintained in order to take advantage of the existing opportunity.
Thus, it is hoped that the implementation of agricultural extension during the pandemic will necessitate the delivery of messages and information through individual communication, either through mobile media or through individual visits, while adhering to standard procedures for preventing the transmission of Covid-19, allowing farmers and breeders to receive technological information.According to [9], information delivery and technical expertise can make agricultural extension more efficient and effective, thereby enhancing rural farmers' production, welfare, and empowerment.
Performance Development Strategy During the Covid-19 Pandemic is depicted in the picture below:

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Cartesius diagram of SWOT analysis on agricultural extension performance development strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Table 1 .
Results of internal and external data identification.

Table 2 .
Table2further divided these factors based on the inventory of internal and external factors into strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and dangers.Internal factor classification is the identification of strengths and weaknesses in agricultural extension workers' performance during the Covid-19 epidemic in the Bulukumpa, Rilau Ale, and Kajang BPP districts.Meanwhile, external factors include identifying opportunities and threats from outside the implementation of agricultural extension workers' performance during the Covid-19 pandemic.In detail, such factors are presented in Table2and 3. Strength and opportunity factors that affect the performance of agricultural extension workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Table 2
presents the classification of strength factors and opportunities that affect the performance of agricultural extension workers during the Covid-19 pandemic in three study areas, namely BPP Bulukumpa District, BPP Rilau Ale District, and BPP Kajang District, based on some of the identification results previously presented in Table2from internal factor data and external factors that may affect the performance of agricultural extension workers.Table3also depicts the classification of weaknesses and risks affecting agricultural extension workers' performance during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Table 3 .
Factors of weakness and threats affecting the performance of agricultural extension workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Table 4 .
Weights and Rating Scale of Internal Factors.

Table 5 .
Weights and rating scales of external factors.