The July-October monitoring period covers the growing stage of rice and maize and the harvest of wheat and barley crops. Generally, crop condition was unfavorable when compared with the previous five-year average. Compared to average, all agroclimatic indicators were about average (rainfall was -31% below average, but since the expected amount is less than 10 mm, the shortage is meaningless), as were temperature (-0.5°C) and biomass (-6%). It is stressed that, since the bulk of crops is irrigated, rainfall is not a crucial variable in Egypt. Among the agronomic indicators, CALF was 1 percentage point below average and the cropping intensity decreased 2%; VCIx was moderate.

The spatial NDVI pattern and clusters indicate that crop growth was generally below the recent five-year average. Only 7.2% of the cropped area displayed relatively good growing condition, located in the southern Beheira provinces, while 13.6% show decidedly inferior condition in northern Beheira, Kafrel-Sheikh, Gharbia and Monufia provinces in the north of the country. In general, crop condition is assessed as below average.

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI    (b) Maximum VCI

(c) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA and the coresponding NDVI departure profiles