The monitoring period for this report covers July to October. In Algeria, the harvest of wheat, barley and sorghum ended in July. The sowing of potatoes and some irrigated crops like artichoke, tomato and cauliflower started in August. Potatoes are mostly grown in the regions of Mostaganem and El Oued.

The proportion of irrigated cropland in Algeria is only 3% and rainfall plays an utmost role in the growth of most crops. CropWatch agro-climatic indicators show that when compared to the 15YA, RAIN was 50% lower, and sunshine temperature were average. Due to the large rainfall deficit, the biomass production potential (BIOMSS) is estimated to have decreased by 10% at the national level compared to the 15-year average. The national-scale NDVI development graph shows that the NDVI values were generally lower as compared to the 5YA, but close to that of the corresponding season in 2021. The crop conditions were different from the 5-year average from January to March. This is also partly reflected by the spatial distribution of maximum VCI (VCIx) in the most of country, which reached an average of 0.54. Overall, below-average rainfall starting in mid-January to February caused unfavorable growth conditions for the wheat crops. It is the time when the cereal crop needs water, that is why I mentioned the period between January and March as the critical stages of cereal crops in the Algeria according to the low precipitation.

The VCIx map shows relatively low values (<0.5) distributed across the whole country. The national average VCIx was 0.54, indicating unfavorable crop conditions. The cropped arable land fraction represented 14% and the crop production index (CPI) was 0.66. Crop conditions were unfavorable due to below-average precipitation.

Figure 3.14 Algeria's crop condition, July -October 2022

(a). Phenology of major crops

(b) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

(c) Maximum VCI

(d) Time series rainfall profile

(e) Time series temperature profile

(f) Biomas departure

(g) CALF

Table.3.20 Algeria national agroclimatic indicators, current season's values and departure from 15YA, July - October 2022

Table.3.21 Algeria national agronomic indicators, current season’s values and departure from 5YA, July - October 2022