The South and Southeast Asia MPZ includes India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. This monitoring period covers the harvesting period of autumn crops (rice, corn, and sugarcane) and the sowing as well as the growing period of winter crops (wheat) in the region.

The accumulated precipitation was unchanged compared with the 15YA, while the temperature was slightly below the 15YA (TEMP -0.1℃) and the RADPAR (+2%) was above the 15YA, resulting in an estimated biomass increase (BIOMSS +1%). Compared with the 5YA, the CALF increased by 1% to 97%. The VCIx of the MPZ was 0.88, indicating that the crops were growing well.

Based on the spatial distribution of rainfall profiles, 14.5% of the MPZ (northern and southeastern India, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, and northern Vietnam) experienced higher precipitation levels in early October compared to the 15YA. They dropped sharply to the average level in the middle of October. Between October and early November, the precipitation for 25.3% of the MPZ was lower than the average, which occurred in eastern India, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. However, heavy precipitation occurred in late November, leading to flooding disasters in central Vietnam. The precipitation for 4.5% of the MPZ (southern India, Sri Lanka) fluctuated around the 15YA. After the middle of December, precipitation levels for all cultivated land in the MPZ returned to levels close to the 15YA. According to the spatial distribution of temperature profiles, during the whole monitoring period, 1% of the MPZ (northern India and central Nepal) recorded significantly higher temperature departures than the 15YA, and 12% of the areas (northern and eastern India, Nepal and Myanmar) had slightly higher temperature departures than the 15YA. 67.4% of the MPZ (India and Bangladesh) had negative temperature departures t from October to late November. 19.6% of the MPZ (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) had strong temperature fluctuations, with temperatures higher than the average from the middle of November to early December, and lower than the average most of the time.

The BIOMASS departure map shows that the potential biomass of northwest and southern India was 20% greater than the historical average for the same period, while the potential biomass in northern India, eastern India, Myanmar, and northern Vietnam was below the average. The Maximum VCI shows that the index in northern India and various isolated locations were above 1.0. The VHI Minimum map shows that north and central India, regions in Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia experienced periods of severe drought conditions. The CALF map indicates that a significant portion of the region was planted, except for northwest India.

In general, the growth conditions for winter crops in the main production area were close to normal.

Figure 2.4 South and Southeast Asia MPZ: Agroclimatic and agronomic indicators, October 2022 to January 2023.

a.Spatial distribution of rainfall profiles  b.Profiles of rainfall departure from average (mm)

c.Spatial distribution of temperature profiles  d.Profiles of temperature departure from average (mm)

e.Cropped and uncropped arable land

f.Potential biomass departure from 5YA

g.Maximum VCI

h.VHI Minimum