• Most smallholder farmers opted to grow both promiscuous and specifically-nodulating varieties, citing the large biomass from promiscuous varieties for use as a soil amendment and fodder and the higher yields of specificallynodulating varieties for food and cash income after sale.

• Harvested biomass as grain, with an average output of 147.5 GJ ha_1, represented 40.2% of total energy, 46.7% if total removed biomass, including wheat straw, was considered.

• Interestingly, this superior grain yield performance of the introgression line hybrids was often accompanied by increased biomass yields and reduced grain harvest indices; hybrids of the donor parent had reduced biomass yield and increased grain harvest index that contributed to their higher grain yield under nonstressed and terminal drought conditions.