South and Southeast Asia includes India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam. The reporting period covers the main growing period of winter crops, as well as the harvest of earlier planted crops. The main crops grown in South and Southeast Asia are maize, rice, wheat and soybean. Agro-climatic indicators showed that precipitation decreased by 11%, temperature rose by 0.2% and RADPAR was slightly higher by 0.5% compared to the 15YA, which led to a 19% drop in BIOMSS. CALF exceeded the 5YA by 8%, reaching 80%. The VCIx was at 0.86. Most crops grown in the winter season are irrigated. In India, ground water is a main source of irrigation water, and the drought conditions had limited impact on wheat production. However, in South-East Asia, surface water abstracted from rivers, dams and lakes is the main source of irrigation water. Thus the drought conditions had more of a negative impact on rice production in South-East Asia. 

The spatial distribution of rainfall profiles showed slightly below-average conditions for 71.3% of the MPZ. These areas are located in India, Myanmar, Central Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Precipitation for 21.3% of the region, located in Myanmar and southern India, fluctuated slightly above and below the average value from January to mid-March. After mid March, a positive departure was observed. The precipitation in 7.4% of the main production area in eastern India and Bangladesh was below average with the exception of mid-January, reaching the strongest negative anomalies in April. Spatial distribution of temperature profiles showed above-average conditions for 20.6% of the MPZ, mainly in western and eastern India, Bangladesh and parts of Myanmar. Other areas showed an alternating pattern with positive and negative anomalies during the reporting period, with the strongest positive anomalies in early January (northern and mid India) and negative anomalies in mid-January (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos). 

Most BIOMSS anomalies were in the negative range (0 to -20%), located mostly in India (eastern India and southeastern India), Nepal, Bangladesh, central Myanmar, , Cambodia and Vietnam. Maximum VCIx showed low values for central Myanmar, scattered areas in eastern and western India with values below 0.5. CALF indicates that a high portion of the region was planted, with the exception of areas in northern Rajasthan, eastern Bangladesh and southern Vietnam. The VHI minimum map shows that northern India, regions in central Myanmar and the west of Cambodia were most affected by periods of severe drought conditions. 

In general, the growth conditions of winter crops in this MPZ were close to normal in India, and below average in South-East Asia due to drought.

 a. Spatial distribution of rainfall profiles     b. Profiles of rainfall departure from average (mm)

  c Spatial distribution of temperature profiles   d. Profiles of temperature departure from average

                                         e. Maximum VCI

                                      f. Cropped arable land

                           g. Biomass accumulation departure

                                           h. VHI Minimum