Assessment of fodder legumes and intercropping system to improve maize productivity in middle hills of NepalAmong the cereal crops, maize is the second largest crop basic food crop after rice grown in 80% of the country. hilly areas. The lowlands and irrigated lands of the Terai (plains region) and low and middle hills are characterized by a rice-based cropping system with wheat, maize and cash crops as secondary produce, while the lowlands mountainous and non-irrigated (mainly hills) are characterized by agriculture based on corn. system (Paudel, Lamsal et al. 2011). Mixed crop livestock farming is predominant in the middle hills of Nepal, characterized by the predominance of a maize-based cropping system, intensive cultivation, a high degree of subsistence and close integration between crops, livestock and the forest (Dhungana, Tripathee et al. 2012). of Nepal are characterized by complex, labor-intensive agricultural systems with low yields. About 70% of the arable hill lands can be classified as non-irrigated hill slopes (bari lands), and only about 30% are irrigated (khet lands). Soil fertility under the traditional agricultural system was maintained by repeated addition of various quantities of compost/organic manure from livestock, ranging from 3 to 21 tonnes/ha/year (Paudel 1992). But this does not seem to be enough for the nutrient balance to achieve sufficient productivity. After the crop sector, livestock is the second most dominant sub-sector of the agricultural sector, accounting for 29% of AGDP and almost two-thirds of agricultural households in the country raise livestock as a source of income, for strength traction and manure (Joshy). Amidst the hills of Nepal, livestock production meets nutrient needs by providing milk, meat, eggs, manure and draft power for agricultural production, as well as contributing to the economy of households, but there is a deleterious effect of overcrowding and denudation of pastures and forests. land resources (Das and Shivakoti 2006). Land fragmentation is a major feature in Nepal. As the population increases, the parcel is increasingly subdivided due to heredity, sales, and other forms of transaction. The NLSS (CBS 1997) shows an average holding of 1.22 ha in the mountains, 0.89 ha in the hills and 1.29 ha in the terai, of which the majority of land is smallholder (Maskey, Sharma et al 2003). Increasing migration is also one of the livelihood strategies of farming households in rural areas of mid hills of Nepal, which leads to neglect of subsistence farming and further, when household income is insufficient, farmers are more interested in livestock than in agriculture (Maharjan, Bauer et al..