To raise average grain legumes yields by 954 kg/ha in four legumes (groundnut, cowpea, soybean, and common bean), increase average biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) by 46 kg/ha, and increase average household income by $465, directly benefiting 225,000 households (1,800,000 individuals) in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa (DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zimbabwe). Indeed, this project links the protein and nitrogen needs of poor African farmers directly to previously inaccessible, massive atmospheric reserves, provides them with new income-generating crop production enterprises, presents a mechanism of renewable soil fertility management and opens the door to the adoption of numerous, profitable accompanying farm technologies and value-adding enterprises
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Potential returns to investment on research and development investment through different approaches to enhance the inputs from BNF (modified from Giller and Cadisch, 1995).