*3.2.1 Insurance against crop failure to small holders*

Intercropping is a common practice of small and marginal farmers in developing countries of Asia and Africa and in risky and fragile ecological conditions which is known as a suitable practice to provide natural insurance and thus provides a profitable shape to farm economy. Under moisture stress conditions, more of ground area is covered under maize-legume intercropping than sole cropping of maize which

leads to less evaporation loss of soil moisture. Under extreme conditions, may be due to either biotic or abiotic factors, a crop may fail, but there will be less chance of failure of more crops grown in intercropping, which are morphologically dissimilar and if so happened some yield and return will be earned to save small holders' economic interest. Thus stability in yield and return are achieved due to creation of crop diversity in the intercropping systems. In economic point of view, it may be stated that small farmers may face problem of seasonal price variability of commodities which often can destabilize net realization, but diversification in the form of intercropping can stabilize farm income to a great extent. Experimental results indicated superiority of intercropping maize-beans in soil fertility restoration and income enhancement than monocropping of the component crops [55]. Yield enhancement of crops is another basis to strengthen the economy of small and marginal farmers adopting intercropping system [56]. Though intercropping of maizegrain legumes is labour and cost intensive, small holders of central Mozambique prefer it because of reduced risk of crop failure and enhanced productivity [57].
