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Small farm agriculture predominates in the semi-arid regions of Brazil and intercropping systems are used by most of these farmers. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of the intercropping systems, sorghum + cowpea and maize + sorghum, on yield and its components of each crop and the Land Equivalent Ration (LER). Two field experiments were performed at Pacatuba City, Ceara, Brazil, from March to July 2002. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replicates and five treatments. The crop species were intercropped according the following combinations: T-1) 100% specie A; T-2) 75% specie A + 25% specie B; T-3)50% specie A + 50% specie B; T-4) 25% specie A + 75% specie B; T-5) 100% specie B. The best association of the intercropping system sorghum + cowpea was one row of sorghum alternated with one row of cowpea, with a LER of 1.32. On the intercropping system maize + sorghum, the LER was greater than 1 for all row combinations.