**4. Limitations of intercropping**

Despite a number of benefits of maize-legume intercropping over monocropping, sometimes intercropping may exhibit some limitations especially in terms of agronomic management. In the field where farm mechanizations have been adopted, intercultural operations and harvest become difficult with two dissimilar crops. However, there is no problem where the intercrops are harvested for forage or grazed [13]. It may be mentioned that where human workforce is sufficient, particularly in developing countries, there is no need for investment in costly machines for agronomic management and harvest of crops in intercropping and in this regard intercropping does not express any disadvantages. Intercropping may cause yield loss of the base crop (maize) compared to its sole stand, but MEY become more and thus intercropping may be considered more productive than monoculture. Further in intercropping, crowded crop canopy may create a microclimate which may be congenial to spread of fungal pathogens, but in maize-legumes intercropping combination, such incidences are not common.
