During this monitoring period, winter wheat and rapeseed had reached maturity by June in Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. The semi-late and late rice crops are still growing in the south and the center of the region including Jiangsu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Hubei provinces, while early rice has been harvested.

According to the CropWatch agro-climatic indicators, the accumulated precipitation from April to July was 6% below the long-term average in this region, the temperature and photosynthetically active radiation were 0.2℃ and 5% higher than the 15-year averages, respectively. The rainfall profiles also indicate that below average precipitation occurred in middle and late July. The slightly dry agro-climatic conditions resulted in a 3% negative departure of the biomass production potential.

As shown in the NDVI departure clustering map and the profiles, 46% of the region, mainly distributed in the central part, had crop growth close to previous years. In the northern part of the region, including southern Henan, central Anhui and central Jiangsu, the crop growth was slightly lower than the average, and the potential biomass departure map shows a similar spatial pattern in this part with values between -20% and -10% (the orange area). The potential biomass departure in other areas was close to average and varied between -10% and 10%. The average VCIx of this region was 0.91, and most of the area had VCIx values ranging from 0.8 to 1.

The crop conditions in the Lower Yangtze region were normal. However, the continuous high temperature and decrease of precipitation since July will negatively impact subsequent crop growth. 

Figure 4.7 Crop condition China Lower Yangtze region, April - July 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