By October, late rice had been maturing and harvested progressively in Southern China. The average VCIx of the Southern China region during the monitoring period was 0.92. According to the regional NDVI profile, crop conditions were slightly below the 5-year average.

During the reporting period, precipitation in Southern China decreased obviously. According to the CropWatch agro-climatic indicators, the accumulated precipitation was 938 mm, 23% lower than average, while temperature and radiation were above average (TEMP +0.7ºC, RADPAR +12%), which resulted in below-average biomass production potential (BIOMSS -8%). 

As shown by NDVI clusters and profiles, crop conditions in Yunnan was above average before August, and then fell back to the average due to the lack of precipitation. While, crop conditions in Guangdong, guangxi was below average and reverted to the average at the end of the reporting period. The potential biomass departure map showed a similar spatial pattern. BIOMSS in Yunnan was above average, while BIOMSS in Eastern Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian was at or slightly below average and varied between -10% and 10%.

Affected by the lack of rainfall, crop conditions in Southern China was slightly below average. The precipitation exceeded 900mm, and the influence of precipitation decrease was unlikely to affect crop conditions in Southern China.

Figure 4.16 Crop condition Southern China region, July - October 2022

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

(b) Time series rainfall pofile

(c)  Time series temperature pofile

(d) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (e) NDVI profiles

(f)  Maximum VCI

(g)  Potential biomass departure from 5YA