THE INSTITUTIONAL ROLE IN DISSEMINATING SITE-SPECIFIC AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION IN ACEH
Abstract
Agricultural institutions have a crucial role in disseminating site-specific tecnology in
term of supporting the development of Aceh province. This study which was
conducted in March to November 2011 in the districts of Pidie, Bireuen and Pidie
Jaya aimed to determine which formal and informal institutions had the largest
contribution in site-specific technology dissemination. Besides, it was also to find out
the model of institutional dissemination system of the existing agricultural innovation
as well as soliciting feedbacks from the users. The selection of research location and
the samples was conducted through purposive sampling (intentionally). From each
district, three subdistricts were taken, and from each subdistrict three villages were
selected. Each village comprised 20 samples, so the total respondents involved were
540 people. The result obtained from this study was the formal institutions in Pidie
Jaya provided a more dominant and significant contribution in disseminating sitespecific
technology innovation through a range of networks such as Aceh AIAT,
Extension Agency, Agricultural Training Agency, and farmer groups. The
performance of these formal institutions in Pidie Jaya was very influential on the
development of site-specific agricultural innovation while the performance of formal
institutions in Pidie and Bireuen was diverse. Therefore, in the future, the role of
extension workers in the field is expected to be more synergistic in disseminating
technology innovation.