Chapter 3. Main producing and exporting countries

Building on the global patterns presented in previouschapters, this chapter assesses the situation of crops in 30 key countries thatrepresent the global major producers and exporters or otherwise are of globalor CropWatch relevance. For each country, maps present maximum VCI, spatialNDVI patterns, associated NDVI profiles, and an NDVI-based crop conditiondevelopment graph. Additional detail on the agroclimatic and BIOMASS indicators,in particular for some of the larger countries, is included in Annex A, tablesA.2-A.10. Annex B includes 2014 production estimates for Argentina, Brazil, andthe United States.

3.1 Overview

The significant climatic anomalies described in Chapter 1,which have affected large areas, can also be looked at on the level of individualcountries. For some countries, the climatic anomalies were particularly severe.Figures 3.1-3.4 present the indicators for rainfall, temperature, PAR, andbiomass for the thirty-one countries (including China). Table 3.1 presents theclimatic and crop indicators for the countries. For rainfall, the largestnegative departures occurred in Dominica (-73%), which is part of a group ofseveral countries in the same area (Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Nicaragua,Venezuela, Guyana and French Guyana, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic)where the average rainfall deficit reached 57%. Similarly, in the North AfricaMediterranean CPSZ, the worst affected country is Lebanon, but the problemaffects at least six more countries between Lebanon and Morocco; the averagerainfall deficit in this area reached 52.5%. For negative temperature departures,records occurred in Canada (-2.2°C) and in the United States (-1.8°C), while alarge area was affected in Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirgizstan,Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Jammu and Kashmir: average negativedepartures reached -1.5°C), impacting several CPSZs. The largest positive temperaturedeparture affected a spatially coherent group of western European countries(from Slovakia with +3°C to Sweden), extending east as far as Poland, Turkey,and Syria, where departures were lower but nevertheless still reached 2.3°C,2.0°C, and 2.0°C, respectively.

Figure 3.1. Global map of rainfall (RAIN) bycountry and sub-national areas, departure from thirteen-year average (2001-13)(percentage), January-April 2014

Figure 3.2. Global map of temperature (TEMP)by country and sub-national areas, departure from thirteen-year average(2001-13) (degrees), January-April 2014

Figure 3.3. Global map of PAR (RADPAR)by country and sub-national areas, departure from thirteen-year average(2001-13) (percentage), January-April 2014

Figure 3.4. Global map of biomass (BIOMASS)by country and sub-national areas, departure from thirteen-year average(2001-13) (percentage), January-April 2014