In Angola, the current monitoring period corresponds to the sowing and growth phase of maize and rice. Wheat was harvested by October. During this period most of the agroclimatic indicators including rainfall, temperature and biomass were found to be below the 15YA (RAIN -15%, TEMP -0.2°C, and BIOMSS -8%). The radiation was near the 15YA.

According to the crop conditions development graph based on NDVI at the national level, crop conditions remained below average during the entire monitoring period. According to NDVI profiles, 41.8% of the farmlands experienced favourable crop conditions during the entire monitoring period, mostly in the south-east. Similarly, the maximum VCI indicates better crop conditions in Cuando Cubango.

The remaining 58.2% (mostly in the northwest) presented unfavourable crop conditions. The crop conditions in these areas were mostly influenced by the decreases seen in rainfall (especially in the subhumid zone) in early stages of crop development. Nevertheless, the sudden change in crop conditions on approximately 6% of the cropped area might be related to the data quality (cloud cover in the satellite images) as this was the period in which the region recorded the highest amount of rainfall. For 19% of the areas, crop conditions recovered in late January. The provinces of Namibe and Benguela (in the arid zone) were the two provinces recording the poorest vegetation conditions during this monitoring period.

The agronomic indicators revealed a decrease in the cropped arable land fraction (CALF -6%) and the maximum VCIx recorded was 0.81. In general, crop conditions were unfavourable in the country.

Regional analysis

Considering the cropping systems, climatic zones and topographic conditions, Angola is divided into five agro‐ecological zones (AEZs): The Arid Zone, Central Plateau, Humid zone, Semi-Arid zone, and Sub-humid zone.

At a regional level, the crop conditions based on NDVI showed that except for the semi-arid zone, the crop conditions were below the average of the past five years. During the same period, while an increase in rainfall was observed in the semi-arid zone (RAIN +5%), the remaining zones showed significant decreases.  In the central plateau and arid zone regions, rainfall decreased by 39% and 37%, respectively. While the temperature in the humid zone was near the 15YA, decreases were observed in all the remaining agro-ecological zones.

Radiation increases of 4%, 3% and 2% compared to the past five-year average were observed for the central plateau, humid zone, and sub-humid zone respectively. Radiation in the arid zone was near average while in the semi-arid zone it decreased by 3%. The total biomass production decreased in all agro-ecological zones with the highest decrease by 10% being registered in the arid zone. CALF was near the 5YA in the humid and semi-arid zones. Significant drops by 59%, 17% and 8% were observed in the arid zone, the central plateau and sub-humid zone, respectively. The current recorded maximum VCIx was low in the arid zone (0.41) and the highest value 0f 0.94 was recorded in the humid zone.

Figure 3.6. Angola’s crop condition, October 2020 to January 2021

(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) National time-series rainfall profiles                                            (g) National time-series temperature profiles

(h) Arid zone time-series rainfall profiles                                          (i) Sub-humid zone rainfall profiles

(j) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI - Arid zone  (left), and Central Plateau (right)

(k) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI - Humid zone (left), and Semi-arid zone (right)

(l) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI-Subhumid zone

Table 3.3. Angola’s agroclimatic indicators by sub-national regions, current season's values and departure from 15YA, October 2020 – January 2021

Table 3.4. Angola’s agronomic indicators by sub-national regions, current season's values and departure from 5YA, October 2020 – January 2021