ICT-based agricultural extension literacy and the needs for agriculture development and sustainability: a case study of rice farmer in Aceh

In the current era of technological development, agricultural extension considers as one of the determinant factors for the smoothness and success of agriculture development and sustainability. This study aims to determine the literacy and the needs of lowland rice farmers towards agricultural extension using social media and its contributing factors. The study employs a questionnaire survey using simple random sampling of 48 farmers located in Kecamatan Delima, Pidie –one of the central paddy fields in the region. Data analysis used a descriptive approach and binary logistic regression analysis. The study finds that almost half of respondents had a high literacy, while 29.5 percent were moderate, and only 12.5 percent were low. Related to needs, about two-thirds of respondents stated the urgency of interest and need of using ICT-based media as a means for outreach as a medium of information, training, and satisfaction. Statistically, access to information and farmer age affect the need for information and satisfaction, while educational attributes influence the need for training. The employment of the current and latest technological media as a learning tool and diffusion of innovation is necessary for estimable and admirable alternative changing behavior in agricultural development.


Introduction
In the current era of the industrial revolution 4.0, the agricultural sector is also the main focus in making agriculture more advanced.The embodiment of the impact of the development of information and communication technology in agriculture is also called digital agriculture (agriculture 4.0).The major transformation of agriculture 4.0 is the transforming structures and processes of production system and digital application used, which can later reduce operating costs, increase efficiency, productivity, customer satisfaction and product quality [1].In sum, the digital agricultural technology contributes to the agribusiness system, and it will make it easier for farmers to gain and access knowledge in cultivation, processing, distributing, receive commensurate wages and access agricultural commodity data [2,3].
Agricultural extension is a learning process for agricultural business actors to be willing and able to help and organize themselves in accessing and reaching innovation and resources to overcome the problems and improve their welfare.It aims to develop human resources and increase social capital by strengthening the development of advanced in agriculture system sustainably [4,5].ICT-based agricultural extension such as using a YouTube media is an agricultural learning system by utilization of the internet gaining and access information and communication through the social media such as using smartphones and computers increasing the flow of agricultural information and access to digital communications [6].The utilization of the social media in agricultural extension aims to support the provision of extension materials and information for farmers and extension workers in accessing, facilitating, and distributing the agribusiness learning process for the main actors and business actors efficiently [6][7][8].
The common challenging maintaining the sustainability for agricultural information centers at the remote and rural levels are include lack of human capacity, budget constraint for the operation, limited input of energy needed particularly the electrical concern and the network infrastructure for internet connections.Introduction and diffusion of the ICT-based extension media requires learning and educational ability for capacity building in all the areas of agribusiness subsystem particularly in terms of community readiness, local socio-economics demography and infrastructures [9][10][11][12][13].On the other hand, most of the farming application in rural areas still relies on traditional system where commonly peasantry and subsistence; smallholder, lack of technology, low productivity, and the limited market [14,15].In the case of the Indonesian farming is still challenging to the industry 4.0 transformation where most of farmers still relies on traditional application and methods as well as lack of technology awareness and adoption due to limited capacity and access [16,17].In keeping up with the speed of information and technology in the industrial era, the agricultural extension has to inevitably follows to the structural and the process of transformation into the modernization era.
Today, technological developments are growing rapidly, on the other hand, agricultural extension activities in the regions, especially remote areas, still focus on a conventional application through a oneway learning method and face-to-face meetings [9].It is undeniable that most people in rural areas currently are raising awareness and knowledge including access and capacity to used information and technology tools and applications in their daily activities [17][18][19].However, the technology literacy, access and the needs are still challenging nowadays in agricultural extension process and production, particularly the using of social media such as YouTube for gaining knowledge and spreading information.It is not only from the case of farmer but also the lack capacity of the development of the extension workers using the ICT medias for both self-development and the operation of work performances.Nowadays, there are many of the outreach platforms and information that have been created and promoted through YouTube as an outreach media.The capability to function of extension workers and farmers towards the revolution of ICT are consider as the element of development capacity, the needs, especially in the aspect of diffusion of innovation and behavior change.Therefore, this paper aims to identify the literacy level and the needs of farmers related to extension activities and their implications for knowledge and changes in community behavior and agricultural development.

Location and scope
The study site is Kecamatan Delima, Kabupaten Pidie, Aceh Province, which is coverage 43.84 km 2 consisting of 44 villages of 4 Kemukiman: Reubee, Aree, Beuah, and Bambong.This is one of the rice production area in the region.The total population is 21,673 people: 10,729 men and 10,944 women, with a population density 494 people/km 2 .The object of this study is to understand the characteristics and the needs of farmers on the utilization of ICT as media outreach.The scope is assessing literacy and relationship to the need for using ICT-based extension media for agriculture development and productivity.

Population and sample
This study was conducted in six villages, namely Gampong Neulop, Gampong Geudong, Gampong Krueng, Gampong Tanjung, Gampong Reuntoh, and Gampong Mesjid Reubee (Fig. 1).The targeted population consisted of all lowland rice farming communities in the region based on data obtained from Badan Penyuluhan Pertanian -BPP (the Office of Agricultural Extension), which were 2,972 farmers.The simple random sampling metod employed where the entire population has an equal probability.Considering the wide coverage area and the size of the population, the number of samples in this study is 48 respondents.

Data collection and analysis
The data collection employs a questionnaire survey, interviews, and observation.The data consists characteristics of respondents such as education, land size, farming experience, the farmer perceptions, and the needs of ICT based extension for agriculture development.A set of data that has been collected, a descriptive analysis was carried out by grouping, displaying, and presenting data.The data generated in according to the indications appear such as a general description of the location, the socio-demographic characteristics, and the explanation of the phenomena, events, and perceptions using a 5-scale (1 for STS (Strongly Disagree), 2 for TS (Disagree), 3 for N (Neutral/Doubtful), 4 for S (Agree), and 5 for SS (Strongly Agree) of Likert scale and percentages.The level criteria are as in the following table:

Binary logistics regression analysis
The model is employed to study the relationship pattern mathematically between a response variable (y) which is binary or dichotomous and the predictor variables (x) which is polychotomous.Binary data is data that only has two possible outcomes, denoted by Y=1 (success) and Y=0 (failure) with probabilities p and q=1-p.The model is written systematically as follows:

Parameter testing of binary logistics regression model
The G test is used to determine whether the independent variables can be included in the equation or regression model or not.If the significance value is <0.05, the independent variable can be included in the regression model.The t-test was carried out with a 95% confidence level (α = 0.05) with the test criteria, namely the significance value <0.05, and the independent variable affected the dependent variable.Hosmer and Lemeshow test used to see if the model can be accepted so that hypothesis testing can be carried out.If the value of sig.> 0.05 then the model can be tested for hypotheses.
Test Goodness of Fit (R2) test is used to determine the percentage of the independent variable that can explain the dependent variable.The value of Nagelkerke R-square shows how much the independent variable's ability to explain the dependent variable is.The value of R Square ranges from 0-1, the greater the value of R Square, the better.The classification Plot Test is used to see the feasibility of a model by looking at the percentage value in the Classification Table .If the percentage value is 90%, it means that the model is feasible to use and can correctly guess 90% of the conditions that occur.

Respondent attributes
According to the statistical data on 2023, the population in Kecamatan Delima is 21,673 people.The attributes of the respondents are general descriptions of the characteristics of a sample of 48 respondents, which include gender, age, education, arable land area, and farming experience (Table 2).The number of female respondents was higher in this study, where female farmers were easier to find at the time of the survey because it was the planting season.The division of labor based on gender roles in lowland rice farming is very clear.Most of them are found in their rice fields while working.The majority of the respondents are of productive age between 25-60 years.Based on education level, about three-quarters of them have only 12 years of basic education.Farming in this area has the characteristics of small-scale and subsistence.This can be seen from the level of control over the arable land area of fewer than 0.5 hectares.Although farming activities are the main livelihood of the people here and production activities have been carried out for generations, however, the interest of young people in farming is starting to decline at this time.This can be seen from the increasing number of young farmers involved in rice farming activities.Respondent emphasizes the criteria for the ease of accessing the information on the use of social media as a new learning tool.The extension using a YouTube social media has also been introduced by few of extension workers in their field visits.The extension worker claims the application is convenient and simple to operate, evaluate and engender in terms of information-seeking.Regarding to assessing the competence of extension workers, it has also been very adequate.
The respondents stated that promotions and good farming practices provided by extension workers using YouTube are entertaining and attractive-able in terms of appearance, variety, and ease of understanding extension materials.Although the respondents assessed that the instructor's proficiency in using the media was very good, expectations for variations in the use of other ICT media were also expected in practice.In addition, the ICT-based extension platform is simply and pleasurable as learning tools.The performance and achievement of using YouTube-based extension media is also supporting by the availability of a stable 4G networks throughout the region.Overall, the use of smartphones in a daily life is widely and common for todays.Supporting facilities and infrastructure 52.1 47.9

Literacy level.
The literacy level assesses from two components: knowledge and skills in using the media as a means for agricultural development.All respondents claimed that they are already well-known the the YouTube media application, and raising awareness today using the apps searching and finding information.In sum, almost half of the respondent has a high level of literacy to the YouTube apps as a media outreach.Respondent stated that the YouTube apps is a friendly media use and learn.The evocative audio and visual displays as well as interesting content are new attractions for farmers for learning processes.Extensively, the respondent is pretty active and independent searching and finding information related to the problems faced in production activities.For about 40 percent of respondents stated that the current use of YouTube media is more often used as a medium of entertainment rather than as a learning tool.Sometime, it is quite difficult for them finding an appropriate and interesting channel and content to overcome the various problems faced.However, there are still a small number of respondents who have a low literacy.It is due to the device and gadget characteristics owned are inadequate, low level of exposure to the media outreach and information, and the internet cost constraint that relatively high for them.Furthermore, the culture and preference of using smartphone is also attribute to the media awareness and literacy.

The needs for ICT-based extension and its contributing factors
Every social action and behavior of a human being will be influenced by motives and needs.
Farmers' awareness and interest in using ICT-based as a means of learning is also partially influenced by exposure to the media, motive, and the needs.This study focuses on three aspects of extension needs as a learning and communication process, namely the need for information, training, and satisfaction.Considering to the dynamics of the current development of knowledge and technology, more than half of the respondent emphasizes that the use of the YouTube apps as learning facilities in production system is necessary.Farmers will easily access and reach a variety of information needed, including spreading knowledge and information.The response to these needs is also indicated by the desire to learn more through training and education activities related to the development of innovation in farming.The exposure and availability of this information and training obtained from the media will have an impact on satisfaction on its production activities.However, there are about one-third of the respondents stated the need for information and training is not very important and urgent for the current situation.Mentoring and counseling activities that are carried out directly through field visits are considered more effective involving direct interaction and transaction in the processes.Statistically shows that the access to information has a sig value.0.006 where sig.<0.05 then H0 is rejected, which means that the information access has a significant effect on the information needs.Exp (B) for X1 is 45.715, which means that if access to information increases, there will be an opportunity to need information as much as 45.715 times.Meanwhile, the competence of the extension worker and the agricultural extension facilities and infrastructure has a sig value.> 0.05 then accept H0, which means that the two variables have no significant effect on the information needs.The information needs factors consist of access to information, employment, cost, gender, culture, personality, time availability, information awareness, and information overload.The second test uses the dependent variable, namely information needs (Y1) and the independent variable consists of 4 variables, namely age (X1), education (X2), arable land area (X3), and farming experience (X4).
The result shows that age has a sig value.0.004 where sig.<0.05 then H0 is rejected, which means age has a significant effect on the information needs.Exp(B) for the variable age is 0.155, which means that if the age increases by one year, the need for information will decrease by 0.155 times.Meanwhile, education, arable land area, and farming experience have a sig value.> 0.05 then accept H0, which means that the variables have no significant effect on the information needs.The table shows that both knowledge and skills have the value of sig.> 0.05 which means that the two variables have no significant effect on the training needs.This is in regard to instructors, participants, materials, methods, training objectives, and a supportive environment factor.The second test uses the dependent variable, namely training needs (Y2) and the independent variable consists of 7 variables, namely age (X1), education (X2), arable land area (X3), farming experience (X4), access to information (X5), the competence of the instructor (X6) and facilities and infrastructure (X7).
Statistically shows that education has a sig value.0.009 where sig.<0.05 which means that the education level variable has a significant effect on the training needs.Exp(B) for education is 0.292, which means that if the level of education increases, the need for training will decrease by 0.292 times.Meanwhile, the variables age, arable land area, farming experience, access to information, instructor competence, and agricultural extension facilities and infrastructure have no significant effect on the training needs.

Satisfaction needs.
The first test uses the dependent variable, namely the need for satisfaction (Y3) and the independent variable consists of 4 variables, namely age (X1), education (X2), arable land area (X3), and farming experience (X4).
The result shows that access to information has a sig value.0.016 where sig.<0.05, which means that the variable of access to information has a significant effect on the satisfaction needs.Exp(B) for access to information is 15,121 which means that if access to information increases, there will be a chance of satisfaction achieved 15,121 times.Meanwhile, instructor competence and extension facilities and infrastructure have have no significant effect on the satisfaction needs.

Conclusions
The farmer has a positive perception of the use of ICT-based media as a stimulating and interactive learning tool for the agricultural extension activities.They can reach and gain information direct and immediately.The competence of the field extension workers in using the media has implication to the exposure and farmers' perceptions.The positive perception has also contributed to the farmer literacy in regards to knowledge and development capacity for agricultural development.However, there are a few farmers who has a low literacy due to exposure, preferences and culture, device characteristic, and internet cost consideration.In regards to the current development progress, majority claim that the ICT-based media outreach is a necessity for information, training, and satisfaction needs.Farmer who not urgently consider this media as immediate need emphasizes on the effectiveness of conventional extension tool through the direct visits are more effective and efficient for relationship and strengthening communication and interaction between farmers and extension workers.Statistically, access to information and age attribute has a significant contribution to information needs and satisfaction needs.Meanwhile, the need for training is significantly influenced by the attributes of education.Thus, the use of ICT-based media as a means of teaching and learning in extension activities can be estimable and admirable alternative for behavior change and responding to the latest technological developments.

Table 1 .
Likert scale criteria used in this research.

Table 2 .
Respondent's attributes.Perception on ICT-based extension.The use of social media such as YouTube as a means of counseling is an innovation for farming communities.Overall, all respondents have a positive perception of ICT-based extension.

Table 3 .
Perceptions of access, competency of extension workers and infrastructure of ICT-based extension.

Table 4 .
Farmer's literacy level on YouTube based extension.

Table 5 .
The needs for ICT-based extension.
3.3.1.Information needs.The first test uses the dependent variable information needs (Y1) and the independent variable consists of 3 variables, namely access to information (X1), the variable competency of the extension worker (X2) and supporting facilities and infrastructure (X3).

Table 6 .
Influence of access to information, competence of extension worker, and supporting extension facilities and infrastructure on the information needs.

Table 7 .
Influence of respondent attributes age, education, arable land area, and farming experience on the information needs.

Table 8 .
Influence of respondent literacy knowledge and skill on the training needs.

Table 9 .
Influence of respondent attributes age, education, arable land area, and farming experience, access to information, competence of the extension worker, and supporting facilities and infrastructure on the training needs.