Preference of Goat Farmers to Agricultural Extension as a Source of Information and Knowledge in Banjarnegara Regency

Increasing knowledge of farming is essential in increasing goat production in the rural areas of Banjarnegara Regency. Increased knowledge come from many sources, such as extension and non-extension services (other farmers, books, and other government officials). Systematic efforts continue to increase agricultural extension workers' role in providing information and knowledge to goat farmers. This study aims to identify farmers' preference for the agricultural extension as a source of knowledge and analyze the factors that influence the selection of sources of information and knowledge. One hundred sixty goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency were selected as respondents using a multistage sampling method. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. The analysis results showed that most of the goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency (74.37 percent) preferred obtaining knowledge from non-extension sources. In other words, only a small proportion of goat farmers (25.63 percent) prefer to get information and knowledge from agricultural extension workers. Based on the logistic regression analysis, it was found that goat farmers' education and age of farmers were essential factors (P<0.05) in making decisions related to source in obtaining knowledge on raising goats from the agricultural extension or non-agricultural extension workers. Goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency who have lower education prefer to get information related to goat farming from nonagricultural extension workers. Meanwhile, younger goat farmers tend to get information from non-agricultural extension workers. Therefore, agricultural extension workers have a more strategic role for goat farmers who have higher education and are more mature with adequate goat farming knowledge.


Introduction
Goat farming in Banjarnegara Regency is one of the economic modes in developing rural areas. In 2019, the goat population in Banjarnegara Regency reached 191,032 heads and showed an increase compared to the previous year of 189,164 heads (BPS Kab Banjarnegara, 2020). However, farmers only have a limited number of goats with an average of 4 heads. The limited scale of goat farming is one of the reasons why farmers have not widely used the technology. Low entrepreneurial capacity and business perspective also cause farmers not to be profit-oriented and unwilling to increase the number of goats. dos Santos Souza et al. (2019) stated that goats are an effective mechanism for economic revival in rural areas even though they are categorized as marginal or subsistence businesses, low productivity, low income, limited use of technology, and carried out by poor farmers.
Smallholder goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency face many problems to increase their productivity and sustainability. The role of agricultural extension workers is becoming more strategic in disseminating knowledge and improving the skills of goat farmers in rural areas. The challenge of increasing the productivity of goat farming must be responded by strengthening the role of agricultural extension workers. Biswas et al. (2021) emphasize that extension services must be improved to respond to the challenges of increasing agricultural production and efficiency.
Goat farming has been able to absorb several rural workers to carry out economic activities, increase the flow of money into the village from the sale of livestock, and strengthen social values by enhancing goat farmers' groups' activities. Goat farming can control poverty in rural areas despite facing challenges in sustainability and difficulties in increasing production and developing goat populations. Consolidation of Buletin Peternakan 45 (4): 247-253, November 2021 Bulletin of Animal Science ISSN-0126-4400/E-ISSN-2407-876X Accredited: 36a/E/KPT/2016 http://buletinpeternakan.fapet.ugm.ac.id/ farmer groups and related stakeholders, including extension workers, is significant to respond to challenges and obstacles caused by changes in the environment, market, and technology (Manirakiza et al., 2021;Paas et al., 2021). Goat farming continues to be an important part of the family's economic development, which is indicated by the commitment of the goat farmers to continue and maintain it. Goat farming is suitable for rural development because it can provide additional family income, maintain local ceremonies and village culture. However, the loss or decline in goat production can affect the dynamics of the rural economy. Therefore, it is crucial to formulate many alternative strategies and actions in maintaining the resilience and sustainability of goat farming (Visser, 2019).
Goat production has contributed to the economic development of families and rural development, especially in developing countries. The sustainability of goat farming is closely related to the ability of farmers to run more efficient and innovative agriculture. Increased production of goats also contributes to the achievement of food security, especially in rural areas. Related to this, increasing knowledge becomes a solid basis for realizing efficient, productive, and innovative livestock production (Daramola et al., 2021). Expanding the understanding of goat farmers is a systematic effort to continuously provide information and assistance in carrying out goat production.
The availability of adequate knowledge is indicated by the ease with which farmers face and resolve technical and economic problems. The knowledge possessed by farmers can make them more competent and, subsequently, more confident in doing goat farming. It is believed that the goat farming business in the future will face more complexities and challenges, both economically and technologically. Knowledge is one of the factors of production in agricultural enterprises that serves to encourage the creation of innovation and product creation. Knowledge can also accelerate farmers in the use of technology to increase agricultural productivity. Adequate knowledge of farmers results in farmers' ability to evaluate technology and apply it in agricultural activities to increase agricultural productivity (Floriańczyk et al., 2012). Knowledge will be felt to be more critical in preparing goat farmers to face such situations, solving problems with new methods. Innovations that arise in society are caused by the ownership of knowledge by each human being in society. Agricultural extension plays an essential role in defining a set of knowledge to practice agricultural science. Agricultural workers must become a source of knowledge for farmers in practicing farming activities (Bursten and Kendig, 2021).
Various sources of knowledge are available in the social environment of farmers, both in writing and in words. Agricultural extension workers, including livestock officers, are sources of information for farmers to increase knowledge related to goat farming. Apart from sources of information from agricultural extension workers, farmers also get information from fellow farmers, private companies, non-government organizations, and universities. Each farmer prefers accessing some sources of knowledge to strengthen his ability to manage goat farming. Maina et al. (2021) stated a farmer group, a collection of farmers and other information media, is an essential source of information for farmers in increasing knowledge. However, many factors influence farmers in choosing sources of information or knowledge. For example, the farmers' social and economic conditions, including the farmers' age, the education of the farmers, the experience of raising livestock, the farm size, affect the preference of the farmers to the sources of information used. Likewise, the number of family members of farmers who tend to be more than two people per family also affects family income, social network, and opportunities for family members to continue their education. Therefore, family income, family social network, and formal education of family members also may determine the type of information source selected for increasing knowledge of farming (Sheng Tey et al., 2018).
Agricultural extension has a strategic role in helping farmers obtain information/knowledge and make decisions on using the right technology to get the best results in sustainable goat production. Agricultural extension has many functions and roles in agricultural development by disseminating information and knowledge to farmers. However, many farmers do not get the information, assistance, and training they need (Raimi and Kabiti, 2019). Many agricultural extension workers cannot meet farmers' expectations and needs, resulting in farmers looking for alternative sources of knowledge. Many goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency began to seek information and knowledge of goat farming from the surrounding social environment. The presence of agricultural extension workers is also not much but is considered sufficient by farmers. These conditions indicate that farmers do not want the presence of extension workers to increase their knowledge and farming skills. On the other hand, extension workers convey knowledge to goat farmers to maintain the sustainability of goat farming in Banjarnegara Regency. Özçatalbaş et al. (2017) stated agricultural extension workers are an important source of information for farmers. The number and quality of extension workers greatly affect the success of agriculture development. The target of extension workers to disseminate info is very varied, and the characteristics of the farmers determine the desired source of information.
The desire of goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency to seek other sources of information is an exciting issue to develop goat production in rural areas. This study aims to analyze the preferences of goat farmers on sources of information to improve the farmer's knowledge. In addition, this study describes the characteristics of goat farmers who still prefer information sources from agricultural extension workers. Furthermore, it is necessary to identify the influence of farmers' education, age, farming experience, number of family members, and farm size to the differences in goat farmers' preferences in obtaining information and knowledge.

Materials and Methods
A study on goat farmers' preferences for access to sources of knowledge in Banjarnegara Regency was conducted using a survey method, and 160 goat farmers respondents were selected using multistage sampling. The goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency are categorized as smallholder farmers and have farm sizes of less than five heads. Farmers are more likely to care for Kacang and Jawarandu goats using minimal technological intervention. The first stage set subdistricts using a stratified random sampling of 20 percent of districts in the high zone (> 1000 meters above the sea level, medium (500 -1000 meters above the sea level, and low area (< 500 meters above the sea level). Eight sub-districts were selected, and then in each selected subdistrict, 20 goat farmers were taken using accidental sampling. Thus, primary data were obtained directly from goat farmers' preferences in choosing sources of knowledge (agricultural and non-agricultural extension workers) and goat farmers' characteristics.
The collected data were analyzed using a descriptive statistic to obtain a socio-demographic picture of goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency regarding their preference for information and knowledge sources. They prefer accessing knowledge sources from extension and nonextension officers (books, learning from other farmers, and other government officials). Logistic regression analysis is used for modeling the relationship between the independent variable (factor) and the dependent variable, where the dependent variable is categorical data (two responses). In contrast, the independent variable can be interval and ratio data (Hair et al., 2010). Logistic regression analysis is highly recommended if the independent variable data is a metric that does not meet the assumptions of multivariate normal distribution and homogeneity of variance between groups.
In this study, logistic regression analysis is used to identify the main factors that influence the preference of goat farmers to access sources of information and knowledge (X1 = farmer education, X2 = goat farming experience, X3 = farmer age, X4 = number of family members, and X5 = number of goats owned). The analysis generates a model of logistic regression Y = a + b1X1 +…. + bnXn, where a is the constant, and b1 through bn are the coefficients. This study uses hypotheses written in Ho and H1. The null hypothesis (Ho) states that the independent variables have no significant effect on farmers' preferences in choosing sources of information and knowledge at a confidence level of 0.05. At the same time, H1 states that the independent variables significantly affect farmers' preferences in choosing sources of information and knowledge at a confidence level of 0.05.
The model test is performed with the G test or what is commonly called the log-likelihood ratio test. The log-likelihood ratio of this test has a Chi-Square distribution with degrees independent variable included in the model. Test Statistics Log-Likelihood Ratio Test or G test follows a Chi-Square distribution with degrees of freedom p and = 5%. The decision criterion is to reject Ho when the p-value of Chi-Square is less than ά = 5%.

Results and Discussion
Goat farmers have an essential role in increasing the productivity of goat farming in rural areas. Intellectual, social, and physical assets are a compilation of main assets for farmers to accelerate goat farming development. The commercialization efforts of goat farming are an essential issue that affects goat farmers' human resources. The commercialization of goat farming will target all demographic structures of farmers, including young, female, and educated groups (Byaruhanga et al., 2015).

Characteristics of goat farmers
Farmers have individual characteristics related to the goat farming activities in Banjarnegara Regency, including the farmers' age, farmers' education, farmers' experience in raising goats, number of family members, and number of goats owned, which described in Table  1.
The age of goat farmers is one of the individual characteristics that shows a person's productivity. Farmer productivity is closely related to farmers' physical condition due to age (Andarwati et al., 2018). Based on Table 1, the goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency have 46.53 years and are in the productive age category. Farmers with productive age can encourage goat farmers' involvement to increase activities in raising goats. On the other hand, the older generation will reduce the activity of farmers in being involved in goat farming activities. As a result, the older farmers reduce their participation in several goat-raising activities (Kumar et al., 2019). Farmers' education is a description of the knowledge and maturity of thinking possessed by goat farmers. A higher farmer's formal education is expected to contribute to developing a mindset to solve problems. This formal education can encourage farmers to share knowledge and be able to solve problems in different ways. As a result, goat farmers more trust each other, share their knowledge, and generate more ideas on their business development (Kmieciak, 2021). However, the educational attainment of goat farmers is still relatively low, namely only elementary school graduates, even though education can encourage farmers to have the ability to accept innovation and business development ideas. Sixty-five percent of goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency only have a maximum formal education of elementary school. The higher education of farmers is believed to increase business productivity, especially in adopting modern technology to develop businesses (Paltasingh and Goyari, 2018).
Goat farmers' experience in raising goat farming has been quite long (average 9.45 years). The ease of raising goats and the culture of raising goats owned by farmers are becoming essential variables that can illustrate goat farmers' commitment to remain involved in goat farming for a long time. In addition, the availability of production facilities, including land owned by themselves, is one of the incentives for farmers to continue their goat farming. Long experience in goat production makes farmers able to solve the problems of their goat production. They are confident that solving problems in raising goats can be a source of knowledge to survive and develop their business. They also use their experience in raising goats as a source of knowledge for other farmers in starting and maintaining their goat farming. The use of basic knowledge synchronized with individual experiences in farming is beneficial for formulating new agricultural designs (Toffolini et al., 2017).
Based on Table 1, it can also be seen that the number of goats owned by the farmers is an average of 6 heads. The increasing number of goats owned can increase the farmer family's cash and other economic benefits. Cash receipts from selling more goats are the primary goal of developing goat farming (Byaruhanga et al., 2015). An adequate number of goats owned can cause profits to increase. The perception of growing earnings in raising goats can lead to farmers' family's confidence to continue maintaining the business (Adams and Ohene-Yankyera, 2014).

Farmers preferences on sources of knowledge
Increasing knowledge of goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency is carried out through several sources of knowledge, including agricultural extension officers, books and magazines, farmer friends, and other government officials. Agricultural extension is the process of providing information to farming communities from some sources of knowledge. The more farmers have the information they need, the stronger their resources will be in agricultural development. In addition, information related to new technical innovations in agricultural development can strengthen rural human resources (Wulandari, 2015).
Based on Table 2, it can be seen that most of the goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency (74.37 percent) prefer to gain additional information and knowledge from non-agricultural extension officers. This large percentage illustrates that farmers prefer books/magazines, farmers, and other government officials to obtain information and knowledge about goat farming. Meanwhile, a small proportion of goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency (25.63 percent) prefer agricultural extension officers as additional information and knowledge sources. Farmers with a smaller business scale and shorter goat farming experience prefer to get knowledge and information from other farmers. The most popular source of knowledge for beginner farmers is from other farmers (Brislen et al., 2016). This condition illustrates that the interaction between farmers is a fair learning process to achieve goat farming goals. Strengthening techniques and better methods for raising goats are more comfortable discussing and exchanging information with other farmers. The exchange of knowledge between farmers is purposed to interpret and apply innovations with other farmers, including increasing farming skills. Visits between farmers in pens and at home and group meetings are effective means for goat farmers to increase knowledge (Thomas et al., 2020).
Goat farmers with higher education prefer agricultural extension workers as a source of knowledge. Besides, farmers of younger age and less farming experience learn from nonagricultural extension workers, namely farmer friends, books, and other government personnel. Goat farmers who do not have much experience with small livestock numbers prefer to access information from other farmers who have much experience. Among other farmers, the head of the farmers' group has an important role in discussing and asking questions for farmers (Gandasari et al., 2020). Farmers like getting information from other farmers because it does not require complicated and expensive communication infrastructure. However, farmers do not only rely on data from friends / other farmers. Information from the private sector, professionals, and books is also needed in completing farmer information needs (Gebru et al., 2017).

Influencing factors of farmer preferences on sources of knowledge and information
Goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency were dichotomized into two preferences in obtaining livestock information and knowledge. The first group is goat farmers who prefer agricultural extension officers as sources of information and knowledge. Farmers who want to raise goats and learn from agricultural extension workers tend to be fewer, namely only 25.63 percent. This relatively small percentage is partly because agricultural extension workers are less intensive in training and visiting goat farmer households in Banjarnegara Regency. Extending workers' limited visits has made goat farmers seek other alternatives to gain additional knowledge and information. Extension workers see farmers only once a month and sometimes do not systematically transfer knowledge and technology. This condition is in line with the opinion that agricultural extension services and electronic media play an important role in adopting new agricultural technologies. However, many in developing countries' extension services are not very impressive. Most farmers do not know the type of extension services and how to benefit from the extension services. Farmers tend not to visit local agricultural offices, and only a small proportion of farmers report the visit of extension workers to their farm sites, most of whom are prominent and influential farmers. Agricultural extension workers should visit farmers more and use a variety of approaches to deliver information and knowledge to farmers (Ahmad et al., 2007;Maulu et al., 2021). Goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency recognize and adopt goat farming technology, mainly from relatives and other farmers. Sources of information and knowledge from informal and formal personalities can encourage the intention to adopt goat farming technology through the usefulness perceived by farmers (Caffaro et al., 2020).
The initial assumption used to perform logistic regression analysis is multicollinearity. Therefore, the first step that must be seen is to look at the multicollinearity between the independent variables (Hair et al., 2010). SPSS issued an output correlation matrix to know the degree of correlation between the independent variables. Based on Table 3, it can be seen that there is no relationship between the independent variables with a correlation coefficient of more than 0.9. This fact shows that there is no high multicollinearity symptom. SPSS has also automatically issued the likelihood ratio value (statistical G) in the output of Table 4. Based on the table, the likelihood ratio value in the Chisquare column obtained a significance level (0.007) less than = 5%. Overall, the independent variables included in the model (farmer's education, livestock experience, farmer's age, number of families, and farm size) can explain the variability in choosing sources of knowledge from or other than extension workers and is described in the following equation model. Table 5, it can be seen that differences in the preferences of goat farmers in getting/accessing sources of knowledge are caused by the level of education and age of the farmers. The higher the goat farmers' education, the more likely they chose agricultural extension workers as a source of knowledge (P<0.01). Goat farmers' education has a logistic regression coefficient of 0.410 and a Wald statistic of 12.150 with a significance value of 0.000 (P<0.01). Therefore, Ho is rejected, which means that goat farmers' education significantly affects the choice to obtain knowledge sources (agricultural extension workers or non-agricultural extension workers). Furthermore, the increasing age of goat farmers can lead to a preference for accessing information/knowledge from agricultural extension officers. The age of goat farmers has a logistic regression coefficient of 0.87 with a Wald statistic of 4.362 and a significance value of 0.037. -0.091 1.018 0.313 ** The regression was significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * The regression was significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Based on logistic regression analysis in
This condition states that Ho is rejected, which means that the age of the goat farmers has a significant effect on the choice of knowledge sources preferred by goat farmers in Banjarnegara Regency.
The above mention is synergistic with other researchers who show that more educated farmers, older farmers, and larger farm sizes tend to choose sources of knowledge and information from agricultural extension (Velandia et al., 2009). Estimates in the future, after goat farming moves towards commercialization and goat farmers have higher education, information sources from information technology will be the primary choice. Income, education, and the innovation-based farmer were determining factors in using information communication technology as sources of knowledge and information (Ali, 2012).

A small proportion of goat farmers in Banjarnegara
Regency prefer to obtain information and knowledge from agricultural extension officers. Meanwhile, most goat farmers access information and knowledge from fellow farmers, relatives, books/magazines, and other government officials. Agricultural extension is preferred as a source of information and knowledge for farmers is favored by goat farmers with higher education, older age, more size of goat farming, and more extended farming experience. The education and age of goat farmers are essential and influencing factors of farmers in selecting sources of information and knowledge.