With some minor variations due to elevation and terrainfeatures, most of the West African MPZ was in the dry season in January andFebruary, when the last 2013 crops were being harvested. In March and April,the southernmost areas, particularly in the center and east, have startedplanting maize and rainfed rice. About three quarters (72.6%) of the pixels inthe MPZ experienced very close to average rainfall during January and February,indicating they experienced seasonally dry weather. Poor rainfall conditionsoccurred only in the west of the region (Liberia, Sierra Leone, and southeastGuinea) in March and, to some extent, in April in less than 10% of the area.This corresponds to a late onset of the rainy season but not of the croppingseason, as the west tends to plant later than the east. The overall highrainfall departure (+16%) for the region during the first four months of theyear is largely due to abundant rainfall (+50%), still in March, fromsouth-west Nigeria to east Côte d'Ivoire. As far as temperature is concerned,the region was generally warmer than average at the beginning of the year,gradually returning to average (or even below average in central east Nigeria)at the end of April.

In the southernmost areas of the MPZ—where crops are grown duringthe reporting period (as illustrated by the cropped arable land map), VCI valuesare high, indicating favorable crops by local standards. This is confirmed bypositive biomass accumulation departures over a large area extending fromNigeria to south-east Côte d'Ivoire, while remaining areas in the west showlarge biomass potential drops. This is very consistent with the alreadymentioned rainfall patterns, but only partially confirmed by VHI: the core ofthe area where biomass is below average (-100 gDM/m2) is characterized by steadily decreasing VHI, in an area centered on the borderarea between Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. March witnessed a drop in VHIin central-eastern Nigeria, which is associated with low temperature.

Altogether, the available indications point at asatisfactory start of the season in the southern area of the MPZ.

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

 (g)  Biomassaccumulation potential(gDM/m2)       (h) Spatial distribution of VHIprofiles

(i) Profiles of VHI departure from average