During this April - July monitoring period, winter wheat reached maturity and was harvested in April and May. It was followed by the planting of rice and maize. The cumulative rainfall reached 6 mm (-24%). The rainfall index graph shows that most of the rainfall fell during April and May. The average temperature reached 23.2°C (-0.3°C), and the photosynthetically active radiation was 1561 MJ/m2 (-2.1%).

The NDVI spatial pattern shows that 50.4% of the cultivated area was above the 5-year average, 24.1% fluctuated around the 5-year average and 25.5% were below. The best Vegetation Condition Index (VCIx) map shows that the conditions of the current crops, mainly maize and rice, are good. This agrees with the whole country VCIx value (0.84). Overall, the crop conditions are favorable.

Regional Analysis

Based on crop planting systems, climate zones, and topographical conditions, Egypt can be divided into three agro-ecological zones (AEZs), two of which are suitable for crop cultivation, namely the Nile Delta and the southern coast of the Mediterranean and the Nile Valley.

In the Nile Delta and Mediterranean coast, the average rainfall was 7 mm (-15%) and the temperature was 23.1°C, while in the Nile Valley the average rainfall recorded only 1 mm (-17%) and the temperature was 26.4°C.

 Since virtually all crops in Egypt are irrigated crops, the impact of precipitation on crop yield is limited but additional precipitation is nevertheless always useful. Although the cumulative photosynthetically active radiation in both regions was slightly below the average (-2% in the Nile Delta and Mediterranean coastal strip and -1% in the Nile Valley), BIOMSS increased by 28% and 25% for the first and second regions respectively. The NDVI development graph shows that crop conditions fluctuated around the average in the Delta from April to May; in the Nile Valley, it was first close to but then fell below average and recovered to average levels by the end of this monitoring period.

Figure 3.14 Egypt’s crop condition, April-July 2020

(a). Phenology of major crops

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

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

                                                               (f) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Nile Delta (left) and Nile Valley (right))

                                            (g) Time series profile of rainfall                                                                             (h) Time series profile of temperature

Table 3.19 Egypt’s agroclimatic indicators by sub-national regions, current season's values and departure from 15YA, April-July 2020

Table 3.20 Egypt’s agronomic indicators by sub-national regions, current season’s values and departure from 5YA, April-July 2020