It was a sunny Saturday morning, full of life and energy as we arrived in one of the beautiful and serene farming communities in the hinterlands. Whilst one could easily be put off by the roughness of the roads to the community, the freshness of the air in such forest zones becomes soothing to the soul and one could unconsciously forget the toil of such travel.  I must emphasize that joining a team of researchers for a stakeholder dialogue in that community, on one of the controversial questions that had remained unanswered in my mind, was a joy and I arrived full of anticipation.  I was intrigued about why local farmers will shun an idea or new farming practice that could reduce the cost of farming and perhaps increase the yield. I kept asking myself: “Why would they be so convinced about their traditional way of doing things? Are they getting any better results, or are there better options they know of?”

Mr. Agyekum, the district extension officer, began to lead a discussion on the topic among local farmers in Badukrom, a small farming community in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. The discussion started in small groups, on the question: “Why do local farmers fail to adopt new farming practices?” The participants of the meeting included cocoa farmers, vegetable growers, community-level extension officers, and the research team. As I move around with a few others to monitor and note the responses from the groups, it was illuminating to hear the responses of these local folks. 

Prior to this meeting, a project was launched in the area that aimed to reduce inorganic fertilizer usage among cocoa farmers by introducing no or low-cost organic fertilizers to farmers.   The program aimed to improve good farming practices, improve yields and more importantly reduce the cost of farming for these farmers.  Trained community agriculture extension officers organized both off-farm and on-farm practical training to educate the local farmers on the new farming practices. From the initial feasibility report, they seemed to support the idea.  What then could have caused their disconnect, I wondered?

As the discussions went on, we realized from their responses that the project did not take into consideration the premium local farmers place on traditional and social knowledge they have learned overtime from their elders and colleagues with regard to fertilizer application. Culturally, certain brands of inorganic fertilizers have been branded as gold standards among farmers in the area. And these peer group knowledge/ practices appeared stronger than the scientific knowledge or new practice they cannot testify to. Others had knowledge of other traditional means of fertilizer application and pest control, such as the use of the neem tree leaves and the likes that were not mentioned as part of the new practice. Citing examples of how this traditional knowledge has worked for some of them over the years, they appeared to suggest they know of better options traditionally that may work better on their farms than what they were introduced to. This may not necessarily be so, I thought, but one could now see the missing link. We have to respect their knowledge if we want them to own and adopt new ideas.

Oh, how mistaken we have always been thinking that we (as agronomists) know what was best for them. Why have we not thought about involving some of these locals in the development and validation of these modern practices? 

Then I began to listen to the responses more critically. The cultural and other socio-economic factors, indigenous knowledge among others had a huge role to play in the process of adoption irrespective of how good or resounding a modern practice is.  There we realized the context and the culture of the people are everything! And these perhaps explain why intervention projects worth millions of dollars have become white elephants in Africa. 

Photo credit: FAO/Luis Tato

This story was written during the Writeshop ''Learn to write your own Agroecology Stories of Change'' held in June 2021 and organized by Barefoot Guide Connection, Agroecology Knowledge Hub and Family Farming Knowledge Platform.