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Cowpea–maize rotations form an important component of the farming systems of smallholder farmers in the forest/savannah transitional agro-ecological zone of Ghana. We evaluated five cowpea varieties for grain yield, N₂-fixation, biomass production, and contribution to productivity of subsequent maize grown in rotation. We further analyzed the interrelationship between these technical dimensions and the social acceptability of these cowpea varieties for farmers. Cowpea grain yield ranged between 1.1 and 1.4 t ha⁻¹ with no significant yield differences among the different varieties. Using the ¹⁵N natural abundance technique, the average proportion of N₂ fixed ranged between 61% for Ayiyi and 77% for Legon prolific. This resulted in average amounts of N₂ fixed in above-ground biomass ranging between 32 and 67 kg N ha⁻¹, respectively. Variation in estimates due to differences in δ¹⁵N among …