Extension activities play a significant role in the success of agricultural development programs. Farmers still need agricultural extension workers (EWs) in the form of assistance, technical guidance, and management intensively and continuously. With the limited number of government EWs, the role of independent agricultural extension (IAE) workers has become crucial. In Indonesia, IAE worker has been recognized since 2006, although it has not been effective. This article aims to: (1) identify conditions and characteristics of IAE and (2) analyze the influencing factors on the role of IAE officers in supporting agricultural extension. Data collection was carried out with a structured questionnaire using Google Forms involving 161 respondents. The analysis method uses inferential statistics, namely the structural equation modeling. The results showed that the factors that directly affect the role of IAE workers are work motivation and quantity or workload. The number of IAE workers directly influences their performance. A favorable working environment is required to achieve the ideal role of IAE workers. In addition, improvement of work management, horizontal and vertical relations, and regulations posit IAE workers as an essential part of agricultural extension activities. It is necessary to have a regional regulation that legalizes the allocation of regional budgets as regular incentives to facilitate the activities of agricultural EWs.

The main sources of rice production growth are increases in the yield and area harvested. Yield improvement is carried out through intensification, mainly using more inputs and better irrigation, while increasing the harvested area is associated with increasing the cropping intensity. Unfortunately, even in favorable irrigated areas, outcomes of the coupled approach are not always synergistic. This study aims to assess technical efficiency (TE), its changes in direction, and the factors responsible for inefficiency during the last 10 years. The data analyzed were those of rice farming through a panel survey of farmer households in several villages with favorable irrigation. The survey was conducted in 2010, 2016, and 2021. The results showed that the use of higher seed quality and inorganic fertilizers positively affected the yield. The TE level was relatively high but tended to degrade in these 3 years. The farmers’ TE in Java Island was higher than that outside Java. The older the farmer, the more inefficient the farmer was. The number of family members working in rice farming negatively affected efficiency. TE increased as the agricultural contribution to household income increased. On the other hand, the farmers’ educational background did not significantly affect TE. Based on these findings, it is recommended to encourage farmers to adopt higher quality seeds of improved rice varieties. It is also urgent to encourage young farmers to pursue rice farming as their main profession. In the middle and long term, breeding improved rice varieties adapted to climate stress will become a pressing need.