Evaluation of fodder legumes and intercropping system to improve maize productivity in central hills of NepalAmong cereal crops, maize is the second largest crop basic food after rice grown in 80% of the hilly areas. The low-lying, irrigated lands in the Terai (plain region) and the medium-lower hills are characterized by a rice-based cultivation system with wheat, maize and cash crops as secondary products, while the mountainous and non-irrigated areas (mainly hills ) are characterized by a corn-based agriculture system (Paudel, Lamsal et al. 2011). Mixed-crop livestock farming is predominant in the central hills of Nepal, characterized by the predominance of maize-based cropping system, intensive cultivation, high degree of subsistence and close integration between crops, livestock and forests (Dhungana, Tripathee et al. 2012). of Nepal are characterized by complex, labor-intensive agricultural systems with low yields. About 70% of the arable land in the hills can be classified as non-irrigated hill slopes (Bari land), and only about 30% is irrigated (khet land). Soil fertility in the traditional agricultural system has been maintained by repeated addition of various amounts of organic compost/manure from livestock, ranging from 3 to 21 mt/ha/year (Paudel 1992). But this seems not to be enough for the nutrient balance to ensure sufficient productivity. After the agricultural sector, livestock is the second most dominant subsector of the agricultural sector accounting for 29% of the AGDP, and nearly two-thirds of the country's agricultural households raise livestock as a source of income, electricity, and manure (Joshy). In the mid-hills of Nepal, livestock raising meets nutrient demands by providing milk, meat, eggs, manure and electricity for agricultural production, as well as contributing to the domestic economy, but there is a deleterious effect of over-livestock and the denudation of common pastures and forests as terrestrial resources (Das and Shivakoti 2006). Territorial fragmentation is one of the main characteristics of Nepal. As the population grows, the plot is further subdivided due to inherence, sales and other forms of transaction. The NLSS (CBS 1997) shows an average ownership of 1.22 hectares in the mountains, 0.89 hectares in the hills and 1.29 hectares in the terai, of which the majority of land holdings are smallholders (Maskey, Sharma et al . 2003). Increased migration is also one of the livelihood strategies of agricultural families in rural mid-hill areas of Nepal, which results in neglecting subsistence farming and also when family income is insufficient farmers show more interest in l both livestock breeding and agriculture (Maharjan, Bauer et al..