EXTENSION PERFORMANCE AND SATISFACTION LEVEL OF BALI CATTLE FARMERS IN SOUTH KONAWE REGENCY, INDONESIA

Objective: Extension officers play an important role in increasing community participation and are tasked with preparing, implementing, and evaluating the performance that has been carried out by the performance evaluation of extension workers in the Republic of


INTRODUCTION
Livestock is the most important part of human needs, which continues to be developed to meet domestic consumption needs in line with the demand for livestock is the most important part of human needs which continues to be developed to meet domestic consumption needs in line with the demand for meat which continues to increase every year. The increased demand for meat is not proportional to the declining livestock population, one of which is due to the cutting of productive broodstock and traditional scale rearing systems that continue to increase yearly. The increased demand for meat is not proportional to the declining livestock population, one of which is due to the cutting of productive broodstock and traditional scale rearing systems.
The problems that occur in livestock and breeders are inseparable from the competence and role of extension workers, who are always looking for a way out of the problems a breeder faces. Sasidhar, (2019) revealed that an extension agent must be able to overcome problems that arise among breeders, transfer knowledge and skills (Brenya & Zhu, 2023), be responsive to climate change, and continuously promote sustainable agriculture (Fan et al., 2022), and market-oriented, improve welfare, and food security (Girma & Kuma, 2022).
Activities in the livestock business of an extension agent should be able to organize nonformal education for breeders by accompanying breeders, teaching them knowledge and skills, and educating and disseminating innovations to breeders. Alotaibi et al., (2021) reporting the sustainability of a farming business depends on the experience of farmers, information received, and risk management as well Ejem et al., (2023) supported by the quality of extension workers in terms of communication and skills at work, Nazarzadehzare & Dorrani, (2012) to minimize obstacles and problems that occur to farmers.
The role of extension agents in Indonesia in the last few decades has not been studied in detail, especially the competence and role of extension agents in increasing the productivity of Bali cattle. South Konawe Regency, as one of the regencies in Southeast Sulawesi which has been designated as a center for Bali cattle breeding, has problems that continue to hamper the livestock population rate, namely disease, the slaughter of productive females, genetics, feed, and maintenance systems.
Livestock rearing in South Konawe Regency is dominated by small-scale community farms with natural resources and human resources that have the potential to support the development of Bali cattle. However, the development of Bali cattle in this region has not been carried out effectively. Field extension officers have held various counseling regarding cattle development, but many breeders still have not changed their farming methods. Gebresilasse, (2023) the increase in the agricultural sector is an obstacle for developing countries,  certainly will affect farmers' satisfaction with agricultural extension services.
The statistics agency recorded the population of Bali cattle in South Konawe Regency in 2021, totaling 60.597 heads, and in 2022 totaling 65.864 heads. The increase in population is not proportional to the consumption of meat from beef cattle, which reaches 650.661/kg/year (BPS, Southeast Sulawesi, 2022). Another problem that arises from breeders should be the role of extension workers to link livestock knowledge through extension activities to change the behavior of breeders so that they are more capable of carrying out their business activities.
The livestock business run by breeders is inseparable from the competence and role of extension workers (PERMENTAN RI No. 91/Permentan/OT.140/9/2013). Through this regulation, researchers must review the competence and role of agricultural extension workers in increasing the productivity of Bali cattle because of the various problems faced by breeders, it always does not show the desired results, and as a result, it always raises various responses, and perceptions of farmers regarding the performance of livestock extension agents in South Konawe Regency.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Agricultural and livestock extension is part of the agricultural and livestock development system which is an education system outside of school (non-formal education) for breeders and their families and other community members involved in agricultural and livestock development (Guitheh, 1973), thus agricultural and livestock extension is an effort to create a conducive climate to help breeders and their families to grow to be dynamic (Farr, 1982) as well as being able to improve his life and livelihood with his strength and in the end be able to help himself (Schulz, 1985).
Agricultural and animal husbandry counseling is an effort to empower breeders and their families and the agribusiness community through non-formal education activities in the field of animal husbandry so that they can help themselves both in the economic, social and political fields (Steyn, 1993), thereby increasing their income and welfare can be achieved (Wadsworth, 1995). Counseling is a social science that studies systems and processes of change in individuals and society to realize better changes as expected (Morton, 2000).
Counseling can be seen as a form of adult education that involves a person consciously communicating information to help others give opinions to make the right decisions (Grage, 2004). Counseling is a process of social, economic, and political change to empower and strengthen the capabilities of all agribusiness "stakeholders" through a participatory joint learning process so that changes in behavior occur in each individual (Oladele, 2004) and the community to manage their agribusiness activities more productively and efficiently (Budak, 2010), for the realization of a good life, and increasingly prosperous in a sustainable manner (Minh, 2010;Oliveira et al., 2022).
Thus it can be concluded that livestock extension is a non-formal educational activity for the main actors and business actors as a guarantee for the right to education, which is expected to be able to utilize existing resources to improve and increase income and their families and more broadly to improve their welfare (Ravikumar, 2011;Chander, 2013;Chander, 2015;Gustafson, 2015).
This understanding implies that in the inherent learning process, other processes occur simultaneously, namely: (a) persuasive communication processes, carried out by extension workers in facilitating targets (main actors and business actors) and their families (b) empowerment processes, the meaning is to give "power and authority" to the main actors and business actors and position them as "subjects" in the livestock development process, not as "objects".
Animal Husbandry Extension has two goals to be achieved: long-term and short-term goals. The short-term goal is to foster changes that are more focused on farming which include: changes in the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and actions of family breeders through increasing knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The long-term goal is to increase the standard of living and the 5 welfare of breeders, which is directed at realizing technical improvements in farming, improving livestock business, and improving the lives of breeders and their communities.
To increase the contribution of the livestock sector to national development, it is necessary to have key actors and business actors who are qualified, reliable, and have managerial, entrepreneurial, and business organizational skills. Improving this capacity requires agricultural and livestock extension activities to build highly competitive businesses from upstream to downstream that are highly competitive and preserve environmental functions in line with the principles of sustainable development (Grejo & Lunkes, 2022).
Animal Husbandry extension is a learning process for key actors and business actors so that they are willing and able to help and organize themselves in accessing technology, market information, capital, and other resources, to increase productivity, business efficiency, income, and welfare, as well as increase awareness in preserving environmental functions. The success of this extension is largely determined by the existence and competence of livestock extension workers in carrying out their extension activities.

RESEARCH METHOD
The research was conducted in South Konawe Regency from August to December 2022. The determination of South Konawe Regency as the research location was carried out by purposive sampling based on subjective considerations that this district is one of the centers for the development of Bali cattle which has the largest population out of the 17 regencies/cities in Southeast Sulawesi Province. The total population of Bali cattle in South Konawe Regency in 2022 will reach 65.864 heads or around 18.26% of Bali cattle in Southeast Sulawesi Province, with 390.903 heads spread across 17 districts/cities. The area of South Konawe Regency consists of 25 sub-districts, and the determination of the sub-district area as the research location was carried out by Stratified Random Sampling based on the criteria for low, medium, and high strata Bali cattle population. The range of strata levels of the Bali cattle population in each district is presented in Table 1. The equation model to determine the level of Bali cattle population strata from each sub-district for research locations is: Based on the consideration of the population strata of Bali cattle in each sub-district, as shown in Table 1, then 3 (three) sub-districts were determined as research locations. The research sample is a Bali cattle breeder household unit with a target number of 300 household respondents for each district using the Snowball Sampling technique. Research respondents must meet the following criteria: (1) own and raise at least 2 adults Bali cattle aged >1 year, (2) have at least 2 years of experience raising Bali cattle, and (3) have participated in counseling activities.
This research is in the form of a survey using a questionnaire to collect primary data from respondents. In contrast, secondary data is taken from agencies related to the research. The research variables include the competence and role of extension workers according to PERMENTAN  Farmers' perceptions of extension workers' performance (competence and role of extension agents) were measured using a Likert scale forming 5 (five) answer categories (1,2,3,4,5). The percentage using the formula:

Score proportion=
Score Acquisition Maximum Score X100%

Study Area
South Konawe Regency is between 3.58 0 and 4.31 0 south latitudes 121.58 0 and 123.16 0 east longitudes. It is divided into 25 sub-districts, with the widest sub-district, namely Tinanggea District, which is 317.59 km 2 or around 7.56% of the total area of South Konawe Regency. In 2022 South Konawe Regency had 5.684 State Civil Apparatuses with a composition of 2.875 men and 2.809 women.
The population composition for men and women in 2022 is recorded at 103.560 people for men and 99.212 women divided into 351 villages, most of whom work as horticultural farmers, plantations, fisheries, and animal husbandry. Plantation production such as cashew nuts in 2022 will reach 6.093,4 tons, cattle population 65.864 heads, native chickens 1.442,987 heads, and fish production will reach 8.467,72 tons.

Breeder Characteristics
The characteristics of the respondents (breeders) in this study totaled 300 household units spread over three sub-districts: East Kolono District, Buke District, and Tinanggea District. The respondents' ages (Table 2) ranged from 18 to 60 years old, with respondents between the ages of 41 and 51 accounting for 150 and men accounting for 291. The main occupation of the respondents is dominated by farmers (66.33%), while the respondents with the main job as breeders have a percentage value of 16.33%. Education will form skilled human resources, which influences the level of understanding and application of technology and breeders. The level of education influences business continuity, production, and marketing.
The education level of the respondents was dominated by upper-middle-class graduates, with a percentage value of 39.00%. Gyawali et al., (2023) revealed that technology has benefits for the development of agricultural agribusiness, Xie & Huang, (2021) the application of technology is a reflection of the level of education and understanding of farmers in applying sustainable agricultural business. The increasingly rapid world of technology, now that most of the developed countries have applied smart robots in the livestock industry. Stoimenov et al., (2022) smart robots can streamline the work of farmers, such as cleaning livestock pens and identifying livestock with health problems. Most of the respondents' farming experience has reached 5-10 years, with a total percentage of 50.33%, and for respondents who have 3-5 years of farming experience, it is 22.67%. The experience of raising livestock owned by farmers in the study area illustrates that they must have had quite a long experience. Of course, this has implications for the level of income the farmers derive from the livestock they keep. However, the survey results show breeders with 1-3 years of experience in the livestock business and 8 (eight) breeders with more than 10 years of farming experience. Of course, this experience is the initial capital for breeders to improve family welfare.

Production Aspect
The development of Bali cattle in the research area is inseparable from several aspects of production, such as rearing patterns, rearing systems, mating systems, participation in counseling, extension support, and business constraints. The analysis results found (Table 3) that most farmers in the study locations applied the breeding pattern with a percentage value of 42.67%, fattening of 32.67%, and those who applied both breeding and fattening patterns of 24.67%. Breeders who apply intensive maintenance systems have a percentage value of 1.67%, semi-intensive 85.67%, and extensive 12.67%. In addition to the livestock maintenance systems and patterns applied by respondents in the study area, there are two livestock mating systems commonly used by Bali cattle breeders, namely the natural mating system at 58.33% and mating using artificial insemination technology at 41.67%.
Farmers' knowledge of artificial insemination technology is usually when participating in extension activities; this can be seen from the percentage results regarding extension participation, which reached 60.67%, and the percentage value of 39.33% is the value where farmers do not participate in extension activities. In the end, it has implications for support for counseling at 59.33%, which does not support 40.67%.

Feed Aspect
Forage for Bali cattle in general in the study area (Table 4) mostly comes from natural grass (44.33%) and cultivated grass (33.67%). However, some breeders provide by-products of food crops as an animal feed with a percentage of 12. 67%. De Araújo et al., (2019) reported that the integration of Bali cattle and food crops contributed to the income of the people of Timor Leste, as well as breeders in the study area providing plantation by-products as a source of animal feed with a percentage value of 6.33%. Plantation by-products, a feed source for Bali cattle, usually come from oil palm plantations and forage found in plantation areas. Fal-Amri et al., (2022) reported that in the oil palm plantation area, there is forage that can be used as a source of animal feed, as well as Ramon et al., (2022), reported that in the area of oil palm plantations, there is a source of fodder for Bali cattle such as palm fronds, Silalahi et al., (2018). Still, there are problems because there are no standards for feed processing based on palm oil industrial waste and technical constraints (Wulandari, 2021).

Health Aspect
Livestock health plays an important role because healthy livestock can also provide good quality in terms of productivity. Livestock diseases that commonly attack Bali cattle are divided into 6 (six) types of diseases, including skin diseases (44.00%), intestinal worms (10.33%), repeated mating (8.67%), miscarriage (2.33%), physical injuries (32.00%), and inflammation of the udder (2.67%). Most of the diseases that attack livestock are not treated by breeders, and it is evident from the results that the percentage is 74.67%, the remaining 25.33% are treated. The types of antibiotics that farmers usually use to increase the immune system of livestock are Limoxin (35.00%), Medoxi (35.67%), Procaine P. (21.33%), and Verm-O (8.00%). Meanwhile, the types of vaccines used were B-complex (1.00%), Sambe (33.33%), and Starain 19-24 (65.67%).

Perception of Breeders
Competence is the ability possessed by a person to be able to provide solutions to any problems faced by both individuals and groups. The analysis results for extension personality competencies (Table 6) found that most breeders thought extension workers had an unpleasant personality, as evidenced by 46.49% (bad) analysis results. The competencies an instructor possesses apart from personality are other competencies that must be possessed, namely being able to direct solutions to any problems breeders face. However, most breeders' findings (Table 6) gave unsatisfactory answers. This can be seen in the analysis results of 48.82% (bad). Likewise, professional competence and social competence with unsatisfactory answers are included in the bad category.
The bad competence of extension workers in South Konawe Regency is probably caused by productivity, competence, and work motivation. That's according to the opinion of Kamsiah, (2015) that there is a positive relationship between competency and work productivity of extension workers. Figna et al., (2019), the work of extension workers is closely related to the competence of extension workers in terms of age and education. Santi & Hery, (2021) not much different from what happened in Pasaman District, the competence of extension agents was in the medium category. Suvedi et al., (2018) reported that an extension agent should have a good attitude, competence, a responsible personality, and better knowledge to convince farmers of the application of technology. Tarekegne et al., (2021) believe that an extension agent must be able to facilitate the needs of farmers in the form of alignment of education, Herawati & Susilo, (2019) raise farmers, Idowu (2021) also supported the level of education of extension workers. Umar et al., (2017), such as extension workers in Malaysia.
The role of extension workers as educators, analysts, consultants, and organizers (Table  6) should be owned and become a prerequisite when someone wants to become an extension worker because if an extension agent does not have that, it will result in the level of community understanding regarding the extension process. This is evident from the results of the analysis it was found that the role of extension workers as educators has a percentage of 45.52% (bad), analyzer 44.16% (bad), consultant 33.20% (bad), and organizer 38.76% (bad). Afrad et al., (2019) revealed that an extension worker should be an agent of change so that it has an impact on the public as well as the private sector.
Extension officers, in terms of educating breeders, must be able to make and initiate various pieces of training, such as non-formal education. Baughman et al., (2012) Extension officers in implementing non-formal education must be able to evaluate each extension activity in terms of field education, Paschen et al., (2021) become an advisor to farmers, and Biswas et al., (2021) servant for farmers. However, the reality on the ground shows that most extension workers get less impressive percentage scores.
The results of a subsequent study regarding the performance of extension workers in Buke District (Table 7) found that the competence of extension officers had different scores. This can be seen from the percentages of Personality 47.87% (bad), andragogy 53.33% (bad), professionalism 49.76% (bad), and social 51.62% (bad). The study on the competency of extension agents illustrates that to increase the participation of farmers, an extension agent must have competencies that align with the needs of the breeder. In general, the role of extension workers in this study indicated that most respondents stated that the role of extension workers was not good. The findings of the analysis show that the role of extension workers as educators has a percentage value of 54.96%, followed by that of analyzers (54.40%), consultants (54.32%), and organizers (54.04%). The subordinate role of extension workers is probably due to their level of education because, in general, extension workers in South Konawe are of less productive age.
The needs of breeders in handling livestock diseases, maintenance management, and feed management will not be properly realized if an instructor does not have qualified competence. This is different from studies by Islamiyah & Azizah, (2020), which found that the role of extension workers as motivators and communicators has a positive relationship with serving small farmers in rural areas (Cesarini, 1982), and Gao et al., (2020), especially adopt the application of the latest technology. Anaktototy et al., (2021) The level of education is directly related to knowledge and mindset in carrying out their duties as extension workers, even in Subang Regency extension workers only work because of affiliation, power, and achievement (Siregar et al., 2010), but for the Timor region the presence of livestock extension agents in developing Bali cattle (Marnisah et al., 2022). Bali cattle have good productivity on the island of Timor because they receive support from livestock extension workers (Habaora et al., 2020). Likewise, with the perceptions of Bali cattle breeders towards extension agents in North Central Timor District (Riwukore & Habaora, 2019), but in contrast to the perception of farmers in low-income countries, most farmers are disadvantaged by extension services such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Benin (Pousga et al., 2022).
Another perception regarding the performance of livestock extension officers is also found in Tinanggea District (Table 8), where the competence of extension agents in the personality field has a different score, as can be seen from the percentage value, which reaches 53.03%, andragogy 53.49%, professionalism 55.38%, and social competence 54.31%. Meanwhile, the roles of extension workers as educators were 52.88%, analyzers 43.20%, consultants 33.20%, and organizers 35.56%. The findings in Tinanggea District (Table 8) are not much different from what happened in East Kolono District (Table 6) and Buke District (Table 7). If this is not addressed, it will directly affect the quality of the counseling program by the local government, considering that South Konawe Regency is an area that has been designated as a national-scale livestock breeding center. Thus, efforts are needed to improve the quality of livestock extension agents on a large scale because it is feared that there will be a fatal decline due to the incompetent quality of extension resources.
The quality of extension human resources who do not have competence will slowly harm small breeders, the local government, and the central government because, in the end, it will harm all stakeholders engaged in animal husbandry, especially South Konawe Regency. Tatik et al., (2014) Livestock extension officers should be able to identify and understand the behavior of Bali cattle breeders to determine programs and work practices for management in the future. Anaktototy et al., (2021), Increasing livestock productivity requires access to effective extension services as the basis for the sustainability of livestock business, Dillon et al., (2015) practice of farmers regarding disease management, Iyiola-Tunji et al., (2015) evaluate the knowledge level of breeders, Ayalew & Abebe, (2018) transfer of knowledge and technology into livestock systems, Gustafson et al., (2015) as well as educating breeders against various livestock diseases, Mairiga et al., (2016) by carrying out activities in the form of face-to-face visits, demonstrations, training in the form of field schools and the introduction of information technology.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
The findings in this study can be concluded that the competence of extension workers and the role of extension agents both in East Kolono District, Buke District, and Tinanggea District fall into the bad and not good categories according to PERMENTAN RI No. 91/Permentan/OT.140/9/2013 regarding the performance of livestock extension agents. Through this study, researchers recommend a policy to provide special training for livestock extension workers in South Konawe Regency.