Partly below average crop conditions prevailed in southern China during the reporting period, which covered the end of the early rice harvest and the planting and harvest of late rice. The overall crop condition was average atthe beginning of July, dropped to below average from July to the end of September, and recovered in October (figure 4.16).

In south-eastern Fujian, south-western Guangxi, southern Guangdong andsouthern Yunnan, NDVI kept close to the average five-year level, indicating theaverage rice growth and harvest. Compared to the latest five-year average, CALFkept unchanged and the cropping intensity decreased little (3%) in southernChina. The double-cropped and late rice in southern Guangdong should be paidattention to because of the unfavourable NDVI profile, possibly due to thedecreased temperature that was recorded in Guangdong (-0.7°C)during the monitoring period, even if crops recovered from the middle ofSeptember.

Figure4.16. Crop condition Southern China region, July-October 2015

(a)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

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

(d) Maximum VCI                                                                                          (e) Biomass