At the end of this monitoring period in late April, most crops had not yet been planted in Inner Mongolia due to the low temperatures in the winter and early spring. Sowing activities gradually started from late April, along with increasing temperatures. Agro-climatic indicators in the first four months of this year demonstrated that rain and temperature indicators were above average (RAIN +34%, TEMP +0.9°C), while the radiation (RADPAR) decreased by about 2%. Significant above-average rainfall provides sufficient soil moisture which will benefit the germination of crops and green-up of grazing lands alike. Meanwhile, the abundant rainfall also hampered the sowing of spring crops as reflected by the 45% lower CALF because of late sowing. Current prospects for the region are mixed, weather conditions in the following months are very critical.

Figure 4.11. Crop condition China Inner Mongolia, January - April 2020

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

(b) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA                                (c) NDVI profiles

(d) Maximum VCI

(e) Potential Biomass