The crop condition in Iran was below average in July, and recovered to average during this monitoring period starting from August. The summer crops(potatoes and rice) were harvested in September, while winter wheat and barley were sown. Accumulated rainfall (+73%) was very abundant and temperature was close to average throughout the monitoring period, while the accumulated RADPAR was less (-2%). CropWatch agroclimatic indices for the current season show rather favorable conditions for crop growth, which is confirmed by the increase of the BIOMSS by 66%.

Crop condition in most of the north-western region was close to the five-yearaverage during the whole monitoring period. The major rice producing areas(Mazandaran and Gilan provinces in the central north region) experiencedfavorable conditions. Crop condition was below the recent five-yearaverage in the Khuzestan and Fars provinces of the south-western region.Overall, the outcome of summer crops was fair, and rice output is expected tobe above average.

 Figure 3.17. Iran crop condition, July-October 2015

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

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