October to January are the harvesting months of the main rice crop in the country, while planting of the second rice crop starts in early January. Thailand’s cultivated rice region canbe divided into two areas: the rainfed rice system in the northeast and the irrigated rice system in the Central Plains, known as the “rice bowl” of Thailand. Vegetation condition indices are very high (>0.9) in the Tung KulaRong Hai region (a large plateau in the northeastern area). For the periodunder consideration, the environmental indices show slightly above averagerainfall and PAR, but about a 6 percent decrease in biomass accumulation. FromNovember to December, crop condition was above the recent five years average.In mid-January, the condition was below average due to the reduced rainfallover the country, delaying the second rice planting operations. The profiles ofNDVI clusters are mostly above average in the rainfed rice system regions,though gradually decreasing until the end of January. The biomass indexindicates a mostly favorable situation in the Western region along the Myanmarborder and the south of the northeast region close to Cambodia, while unfavorableconditions prevail in the south and northeast regions.

Figure 3.26. Thailand crop condition, Oct. 2013-Jan.2014