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

According to the agroclimatic and agronomic indicators, the RADPAR (+1%) was above the 15YA, and the average temperature was also slightly above the 15YA (TEMP +0.1℃), while the accumulated precipitation was below the 15YA (RAIN -24%), resulting in an estimated biomass decrease (BIOMSS -3%). Compared with the 5YA, the CALF increased by 2% to 81%. The VCIx of the MPZ was 0.82, indicating favorable crop growth.

The spatial distribution of rainfall profiles shows that the precipitation for 8% of the MPZ (eastern, southeastern, and northwestern India, Bangladesh) exceeded the 15YA in mid-March, and then fluctuated around the average level. Starting from early February, the precipitation for 20.7% of the MPZ (eastern India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) sustained a consistent decline and fell below the average level around mid-February. The continuous reduction in precipitation has led to severe drought, resulting in adverse impacts on the growth of irrigated crops and causing the potential biomass in the region to be lower than the 5YA. Throughout the monitoring period, 64.3% of the MPZ experienced close to average precipitation levels. It covered most of India, Nepal, and Myanmar. Around 6.9% of the MPZ (southern and northwestern India, Sri Lanka, and northeastern Thailand) had fluctuations in precipitation above and below the average level, with levels significantly exceeding the 15YA in late April.

According to the spatial distribution of temperature profiles, the average temperature in 26.4% of the MPZ (eastern and southern India, Sri Lanka, and southern Vietnam) was lower than the 15YA, except for late January and mid-April. The average temperature in 21.2% of the MPZ (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar) was slightly higher than the 15YA except for late March and early April. The average temperature in 1.7% of the MPZ (northern India, Nepal, and western Myanmar) was significantly higher than the 15YA.  In 50.7% of the MPZ, mostly in northern India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, the temperatures fluctuated around the average level.

The BIOMASS departure map shows that the potential biomass of southern and northwest India was 20% greater than the 15YA, whereas the potential biomass in northern and eastern India, Myanmar, Thailand, and northern Vietnam was below the average. The Maximum VCI shows that the index was below 0.5 in scattered areas of central Myanmar, eastern India, eastern Thailand, and western India. The VHI Minimum map shows that most of the MPZ was severely impacted by drought, except for western India and some other scattered areas. The CALF map indicates that a significant portion of the region was planted, except for eastern and western India, northern Myanmar, and eastern Thailand.

In general, the crop conditions in southeast Asia have been impacted by drought and are expected to be below average.

Figure 2.4 South and Southeast Asia MPZ: Agroclimatic and agronomic indicators, January 2023 to April 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 Minimun