January to April 2014, rainfall in the MPZ was generally 10%above the recent five-year average over the same period. Exceptions weresouthern Paraguay, where below average rainfall was observed in late January, andGoiás and Minas Gerais in Brazil, where rainfall was well below normal fromJanuary to early February and mid-May. Temperature and PAR were normal comparedwith the average of the last five years. It is interesting to observe that thespatial distribution of temperature profiles followed the same patternthroughout the MPZ, with below normal temperature from mid-February to lateMarch and mid-April, except for the eastern coastal regions and southeasternMinas Gerais. As a result of favorable environmental conditions, biomass iswell above the five-year average from southeastern Brazil to Bahia Blanca. Incontrast, biomass was 45% lower than average in southeastern Minas Geraisbecause of low precipitation. Regarding the whole MPZ, accumulated biomass inJanuary to April 2014 is 10% above average.

More than ninety-nine percent of the arable lands in Januaryto April 2014 are cropped, at the same level as the five-year average. Onlyregions close to Bahia Blanca show uncropped land from January to April. Accordingly,maximum VCI and VHI were lower compared with other regions. Below five-yearaverage maximum VCI and VHI were also found sporadically, distributed insoutheastern Minas Gerais due to the unfavorable climatic conditions(especially low precipitation). Generally, crop condition is favorable butslightly worse in the northern MPZ (Goiás and Minas Gerais in Brazil). Theharvesting of maize and soybean is now underway and almost completed.

Figure 2.3.South America MPZ: Agroclimatic and agronomic indicators, January-April 2014

Profiles of VHI departure from average