Thailand

During the monitoring period, the harvest of the main rice crop was completed in January, while the second season rice has reached maturity and was ready to be harvested in April. Due to rainfall dropping below average by 54%, crops show below average conditions compared to the last five years and the biomass production potential fell 49% below the average of the last five years. Although radiation was abnormally high (+8%), temperature remained close to average (- 0.1°C). The VCIx map shows that crop condition was poor in the north-east, one of the major agricultural areas in the country, with a  VCIx value below 0.5. In the growing period of second rice crop, i.e. from March to April, NDVI profiles also confirm that crop condition was mostly below average.

Figure 3.28. Thailand cropcondition, January-April 2016

(a)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI                                 (b)Maximum VCI

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