This reporting period covers the seedling and transplanting phases of early rice in Southern China. Based on the regional NDVI profile, crop conditions were below average.

According to the CropWatch agro-climatic indicators, Temperature (+1.1°C) and radiation (+9%) in this area were above average, but rainfall was below the 15-year average (RAIN, -31%), which resulted in below-average BIOMSS (-18%). The cropped arable land fraction remained at the same level as in the last five years.

Based on the NDVI departure clustering map and profiles, it was found that most parts of southern China had NDVI values slightly below the average level during the monitoring period. Affected by insufficient precipitation, approximately 28.8% of the region had NDVI values lower than average throughout the monitoring period, and these areas were mainly located in Yunnan, Guangxi, and southwestern Guangdong. Furthermore, in some parts of central Guangxi, the NDVI values experienced a significant decrease in February, but they eventually recovered to normal levels with the increase of precipitation. Similarly, the NDVI values in Guangdong Province showed a significant decrease in March and April but returned to normal by the end of the monitoring period. The same crop growth pattern was also reflected by the potential biomass departure map. The average VCIx of this region was 0.89, and most of the area had VCIx values ranging from 0.8 to 1.

In general, the crop conditions were below average.

Figure 4.15 Crop condition Southern China region, January - April 2023

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(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

(b) Time series rainfall pofile

(c) Time series temperature pofile

 (d) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA (e) NDVI profiles

(f) Maximum VCI

(g) Potential biomass departure from 5YA