Chapter 2 presents thesame indicators—RAIN, TEMP, RADPAR, and BIOMSS—used in Chapter 1, and combinesthem with the agronomic indicators—cropped arable land fraction (CALF) andmaximum vegetation condition index (VCIx)—to describe crop condition in sixMajor Production Zones (MPZ) across all continents. For more information aboutthese zones and methodologies used, see the quick reference guide in Annex C aswell as the CropWatch bulletin online resources at www.cropwatch.com.cn.

2.1 Overview

Tables2.1and 2.2present an overview of the agroclimatic (table2.1) and agronomic (table2.2)indicators for each of the six MPZs, comparing the indicators to their fifteenand five-year averages.

Table 2.1. January-April 2016 agroclimaticindicators by Major Production Zone, current value and departure from 15YA

Note: Departuresare expressed in relative terms (percentage) for all variables, except fortemperature, for which absolute departure in degrees Celsius is given. Zeromeans no change from the average value; relative departures are calculated as(C-R)/R*100, with C=current value and R=reference value, which is the fifteen-yearaverage (15YA) for the same period (January-April) for 2001-15.

Table 2.2. January-April 2016agronomic indicators by Major Production Zone, current season values anddeparture from 5YA

Note: Departuresare expressed in relative terms (percentage) for all variables. Zero means nochange from the average value; relative departures are calculated as(C-R)/R*100, with C=current value and R=reference value, which is the five-year(5YA) average for the same period (January-April) for 2011-2015.