Between July and October, Nigerian farmers were harvesting their maize, rice, sorghum and yam crops, while the second maize crop, irrigated rice, and cassava were growing. Temperature and RADPAR were average, while rainfall showed a slight increase (RAIN, +8%), which resulted in a minor rise in the biomass production potential (BIOMSS, +4%).

The crop development based on NDVI shows that conditions changed from below average and below the previous year in July to higher than the recent five-year maximum in October. Contrary to the previous year, in which the north Sahelian region experienced a devastating VCI, during the current monitoring period the region showed favorable development compared to the average in Borno, Jigawa, western Katsina, and eastern Zanfana. The spatial NDVI patterns and clusters indicate that crop condition was generally above average over much of the country, except in some central areas (12.8% of croplands) and especially in the south (5.2% of area).

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI 

    (b) Maximum VCI

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