There are many legume-based technologies capable of regenerating soil fertility but few are being adopted by farmers in West Africa. At the IITA we found that alley cropping and cover cropping systems are biologically sustainable but have low adoption by farmers in the medium term. Negative reactions by farmers stimulated us to consider grain legume rotations for soil fertility maintenance, a decision that permitted a concentration of effort by several disciplines on the system. The short-term payoff was the generation of a large body of scientific information. Positive reactions of farmers have lead to research at the farm level focusing on the increases in maize yield due to the N benefits and the reduction in Striga hermonthica parasitism. A preliminary estimate of impact can be calculated for northern Nigeria where gross revenue from soybean-maize rotation is 50 to 70% higher than continuous maize cropping. Several research and development efforts are now underway testing soybean or cowpea rotation with maize