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 hearing 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 to reduce the cost of farming for these farmers. Trained community agriculture extension officers organized both off-farm and on-farm practical trainings to educate the local farmers on the new farming practices. From the initial feasibility report, they had seemed to support the idea. What then could have caused their disconnect, I wondered?