ABSTRACT 

Intercropping, which is a form of farming system practiced by farmers includes among other patterns the growing of more than one crop simultaneously on the same area of land in definite row arrangement (row intercropping) (Muoneke, 2017). According to Takim (2012), the system demands proximity in terms of space and time on the same field. The most common goal of row intercropping is production of heigher yield on a land by utilization of ecological processes and niches that would otherwise not be used by one crop (Ouma et al., 2010). Its practice is prevalent in the sub-tropical regions of Africa, Asia and some Tropical American countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico among others (Okigbo, 1982; Dhima et al., 2007). Hauggard-Nielsen et al., (2009); Chapagain and Riseman, (2014) and Hamzei and Seyyedi, (2016) reported that cereal/legume mixture is the most common form of intercropping practiced by most farmers. Intercropping is prevalent in the Nigerian farming systems where annual and perennial crops (vegetables, field crops and .perermial fruits and vegetable crops) are mixed (Muoneke and Mbah, 2007; Mbah et al., 2011; Mouneke, 2017). According to Carruthers et al. (2000) intercropping is gaining greater attention at most regions of the globe for the production of food, feed and fibre so as to meet the challenges of decreasing available fertile arable lands resulting from population pressure. Intercropping is the most prevalent farming practice utilized for sustainable agricultural systems which plays a paramount function in improving the quality of productivity and yield thereby helping increase resource utilization and ensure a balanced environment, (Alizadeh et al., 2010). Intercropping as a farming (technology) enables intensification of a farming system leading to increased general productivity and biodiversity in the intercropped fields as compared to monocultures of the individual intercropped species. Also, Muoneke (2017) stated that intercropping involves low input system agriculture that is achieved by the simple experiment of growing crops together in a unit area.