CropWatch assesses the condition of crops in the zone as poor. The monitored quarter is the growing and harvesting period of winter season rice, wheat and maize. The MPZ is experiencing drought due to the ongoing El Niño event. The drought affected countries include India, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. Rainfall was 13% below average across the MPZ, mainly in Cambodia (-67%), Thailand (-54%) and Myanmar (-24%), while the nationwide deficit was lower in India (‑5%). The rainfall profiles indicate that during most of the monitoring period rainfall was evenly distributed over the MPZ, but northern Vietnam and north-east India started receiving excess rainfall after early April. In the MPZ, the rainfall deficit triggered low biomass accumulation (-31% lower thanthe previous five-year average). Temperature remained average and photosynthetically active radiation increased 1% over average. The cropped arable land fraction increased 3% compared to last five years average. The Maximum VCI reached up to 0.68 for the MPZ. The VCI values below 0.5 were observed in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, central Thailand, Cambodia and some parts of Myanmar, pointing at poor crop condition in these regions. Due to low rainfall in southern India, Cambodia,Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar minimum VHI values were low and thereby confirm poor crop condition. Overall, the crop condition of the MPZ is poor, raising concerns due to the drought in India, Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

Figure 2.4. South and SoutheastAsia MPZ: Agroclimatic and agronomic indicators, January-April 2016