A mid-1980s evaluation of the national extension system in Cameroon revealed an inefficient and ineffective system not fulfilling its mission to alleviate poverty in farming areas. Stakeholders felt a strong need to revitalize and change the approach. In 1988, the Training and Visit Extension System (T&V) was adopted as a new approach. Impacts of the new approach on the target population in the West Province, one of the ten provinces of Cameroon, are described in this paper. Sixty farmers from Mbouda Extension Zone, where T&V was pilot tested in 1988, completed a three-part questionnaire identifying demographic characteristics, frequency of contact with the village extension worker (VEW), and changes in knowledge and adoption. After five years of T&V implementation, only 30% of the respondents in the sample reported contact with their VEW. The other 70% were not directly served by the T&V system. The authors recommend that T&V must be replaced with a more participatory approach that will facilitate joint problem solving and lead to more farmer-to-farmer sharing of expertise and resources.