Indonesia’s agricultural sector remains a vital driver of national development, contributing over 12% to GDP and supporting millions of livelihoods. However, the country’s extension system, decentralised since 2000, faces structural and operational challenges, including uneven support, limited resources, and a shortage of Agricultural Extension Officers (AEOs). To enhance local agricultural services, the government introduced Village Extension Centres (VECs), or Pos Penyuluhan Desa (Posluhdes), as community-based hubs designed to bring knowledge, technology, and innovation closer to farmers. Despite their potential, only about 21% of villages currently have functioning VECs due to gaps in infrastructure, management, and policy support.

Between 2023 and 2025, Indonesia participated in the AFACI–RATES Project, supported by the Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI) and the Rural Development Administration (RDA) of South Korea, in collaboration with GFRAS and APIRAS. The project “Enhancing Capacity and Collaboration of Agricultural Extension Providers in Posluhdes” piloted innovative approaches to strengthen VECs in West Java through four key strategies:

Technical training tailored to local commodities, combining practical demonstrations and group discussions for sheep farming, rice cultivation, mushroom production, and post-harvest processing.

Digital empowerment of young farmers, focusing on online marketing, digital mapping, and managing VEC websites to promote village products.

Institutional strengthening, including structured management support, coordination with local governments, and leadership capacity-building.

Multi-stakeholder partnerships, linking VECs with government institutions, agribusinesses, and youth entrepreneurs to foster inclusive rural development.

The project demonstrated that integrated interventions, combining technical, digital, institutional, and collaborative components, can significantly improve VEC performance. However, challenges such as short training durations, limited digital literacy, and weak follow-up mechanisms remain.

Key lessons highlight that sustainable VEC development requires long-term commitment, strong institutional capacity, and strategic partnerships. The policy brief recommends integrating organisational strengthening with technical training, building digital ecosystems with continuous support, and institutionalising VECs through local policy and funding mechanisms.

These insights offer actionable pathways for policymakers, extension practitioners, and development partners to scale up VECs as sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven pillars of Indonesia’s rural transformation.