Papua needs 4,652 more agricultural and animal husbandry extension workers

Papua
Head of the Papua Province Agriculture and Food Service, Semuel Siriwa in Jayapura City, Wednesday (3/8/2022). - Jubi/Alexander Loen

Jayapura, Jubi – Up until today, Papua Province has only 897 agricultural and livestock extension officers. This number is considered low, given that there are 5,549 villages spread throughout Papua Province.

Head of the Papua Agriculture and Food Agency Semuel Siriwa said agricultural and animal husbandry instructors were important as they have the task of teaching innovation and technology so that farmers can grow crops well and breeders succeed.

Siriwa said that ideally, every village in Papua should be accompanied by at least one extension worker because Papua has abundant land potential and local commodities but low accessibility.

“Our extension workers sometimes have difficulty reaching certain villages, both in mountainous and valley areas. Papua lacks 4,652 extension workers,” said Siriwa in Jayapura City on Wednesday, August 3, 2022.

According to Siriwa, in the 1990s, the number of agricultural and livestock extension workers in Papua reached more than 5,000 people. However, now the number remains at 897 people.

“The number decreased because of retirement and the special autonomy transition that resulted in so many people returned to their hometowns,” he explained.

Although the number of extension workers is very limited now, Siriwa said various programs are still being carried out to optimize the potential of existing land and commodities. “The results are quite satisfactory, as seen in the increase in the amount of rice production since 2013,” he said. (*)

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