During this monitoring period, only winter crops like wheat and rapeseed were in the field, mostly in the north of the region, including parts in Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. Limited winter crops were planted in Fujian, the southern Jiangxi and Hunan provinces.

According to CropWatch agro-climatic indicators, the accumulated precipitation and temperature were 19% and 0.3℃ higher than the 15-year averages, respectively. The photosynthetically active radiation was slightly below average (RADPAR -2%) because of increased number of rainy days. The above-average precipitation resulted in an increase of biomass potential production by 6%, as compared to the 15YA. According to the NDVI-based crop development profiles, the crop growth was generally close to the average level during this period. The NDVI departure clustering analysis also reflected the overall normal crop growth conditions. 45.4% of the area, mostly distributed in the north of this region, including the central and southern Jiangsu, central Anhui, southern Henan and northern Hubei provinces, presented near-average crop conditions throughout this monitoring period. The crop condition in other parts had also been close to average since late February. The potential biomass departure map shows a similar pattern. The potential biomass levels in the northern part of the region were up to 20% higher than the average in previous years. The other parts generally had above-average potential biomass departures of up to 10%. The average VCIx of this region was 0.93, and most of the area had VCIx values ranging from 0.8 to 1. The proportion of NDVI anomaly categories showed most parts of the area had average or above-average crop conditions compared to previous years. The proportion of VHIm categories, as compared to the 5YA indicated that the crops in this area were minimally affected by drought.

Overall, the crop conditions in the Lower Yangtze region were normal.

Figure 4.8 Crop condition China Lower Yangtze region, January – April 2022

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI                         (b) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA (c) NDVI profiles

(d)Time series rainfall profile                                                                                                               (e)Time series temperature profile

(f) Maximum VCI                                                                                                                                           (g) Biomass departure

(h)  Proportion of NDVI anomaly categories compared with 5YA                                                           (i) Proportion of VHIm categories compared with 5YA