Due to the movement of the Intertropical convergence zone(ITCZ) from south to north over west Africa during the first half of the year,the rainy season starts earlier in the south of the countries included in this MPZ.In most countries, planting of maize thus occurs from March or April in thesouth, and in May or later in the north. In the west of the MPZ, countries arelocated at higher latitudes and maize plantings also begin in May. Seasons mayvary from very long to bimodal in the south, depending mostly on elevation.

Figure 2.1 illustrates the CropWatch agroclimatic andagronomic indicators for the MPZ. Slightly below average temperature prevailedfrom April to early June in the center and south-east of Nigeria, as well as inan area centered around north-east Guinea.

Figure 2.1. West Africa MPZ: Agroclimaticand agronomic indicators, April-July 2014

Most of the region had below average temperature duringearly May. Rainfall fluctuated widely but usually stayed in the range of plusor minus 25% compared with the recent average. More significant positiverainfall departures (> + 50%) occurred in May in southern Benin, Togo, andsouth-west Nigeria; during the first dekad of July in much of the southerncenter of the region (east Ghana to southern-central Nigeria) and during all ofJuly in some of the areas that underwent a relative cold spell in the highlandsof Guinea, thereby creating favorable water flow conditions for the Niger riverlater this year. The cropped arable land map indicates that the season has notactually started in the northernmost central (Mali, Burkina Faso) and easternparts of the MPZ (Nigeria). With the possible exception of parts of thenorthern halves of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, most indicators concur to describethe conditions of crops over the area as generally average or favorable, with aslight increase of cropped arable land (+1.9%) and relatively high averageregional maximum VCI (0.80).

Figure 2.2. North America MPZ: Agroclimaticand agronomic indicators, April-July 2014