The reporting period covers the harvest of maize and cotton (which is mostly cultivated in the Aral sea area) and the sowing of winter wheat, the country’s most important cereal crop, mainly in the east. As shown in the crop condition development graph, NDVI was below average from late August to October. Spatial NDVI patterns, however, show that crop condition was persistently below average only in 10.8% of the arable land. The national average of the VCIx was 0.90, and the arable land fraction (CALF) increased by a whopping 20 percentage points compared to the five-year average. This is due to the combined effect of RAIN (+169% over average), and close to normal TEMP (-0.5°C) and RADPAR (-2%). The resulting biomass production potential BIOMSS rose +133% above the average of the previous five-years. Crop condition was favorable, including stored soil moisture for the forthcoming wheat crop.

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI   

(b) Maximum VCI

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