From July to October, India was in the monsoon season. Main summer crops are  summer rice (planted from May to August, harvested between September and December), maize (sown from May to July, harvested between October and December), and soybeans (sown from June to July, harvest starting in September). Winter wheat sowing started in late October.

The NDVI-based crop growth line-graph indicates that crop conditions were at normal levels from July and August and starting from September, NDVI slightly declined to below average levels. The spatial pattern of NDVI reveals that the NDVI departures in 46.7% of crop areas mainly in northern India and southeastern coastline areas (labeled as "blue color") decreased from September to October. The NDVI departures in 20.9% of the crop areas in Central India  (labeled as "light green color") show a serious drop of NDVI in September. This anomaly might have been due to cloud cover in the satellite images. Conversely, NDVI departures in 32.4% of the crop area in the West Dry region, West Himalaya region and Assam and Northeast regions (labeled as "dark green") were below average by up to 10% from July to the middle of August. Thereafter, they recovered to the normal level. From an aspect of meteorological conditions for the whole of India, the accumulated rainfall exceeded the 15-year average by 10%, the temperature was 0.4°C above the 15-year average, and RADPAR was adequate. These factors contributed to a potential 9% increase in biomass. The cropped arable land fraction and cropping intensity exceeded the 5-year average by 2% and 8%, respectively. The crop production index (CPI) was 1.01, the best in the last three years. However, compared with higher values of CPI during 2019-2020, crop production index (CPI)  in this season was at a normal level.

Regional analysis

According to crop cultivation system, climate zone, and terrain conditions, India is divided into 8 agricultural ecological zones(AEZ), namely the Deccan Plateau region (94), the Eastern Coastal region (95), the Ganges Plain region (96), the Assam and Northeast regions (97), the Rajasthan and Gujarat agricultural regions (98), the Western Coastal region (99), the Northwest Arid region (100), and the Western Himalaya region (101).

According to the spatial pattern of NDVI departures, we could analyze the crop growth condition of eight AEZ following two categories:   

The NDVI departure for crop growth condition during July to Octomber were similar for Deccan Plateau region, Ganges Plain, Rajasthan and Gujarat agricultural regions, Eastern Coastal region and Western Coastal region. A drought in September and flooding conditions due to tropical cyclone DANA in October had a negative impact on the harvests of rice, maize and soybeans and sowing of winter wheat in these AEZs.  

  (a) Deccan Plateau:  The accumulated rainfall exceeded the 15-year average by 26%, but a 34.4% reduction of rainfall in the middle of September was observed.  Rainfall reached 60 mm in the middle of October, whereas the 15yr average is 20 mm. Abundant contributed to a potential 11% increase of biomass.  The cropping intensity increased by 13.42%. Maximum VCI reached 0.94. The CPI was 0.99 in the Deccan Plateau. 

  (b) Ganges Plain: The departure of accumuated rainfall in the Ganges Plain region was 5%. In early September, a 32.5% reduction of rainfall was observed, but rainfall reached 33.7 mm in late October (15yr average is 7 mm) , which resulted in a 6% increase of potential  biomass. The cropping intensity increased by 9.13%. The maximum VCI was 0.94 . The CPI  was 1.01 in the Ganges Plain.  

  (c) Rajasthan and Gujarat Agricultural regions:  The accumulated rainfall exceeded the average by 50%, but a 37% rainfall reduction in the middle of  September was observed. However, the rainfall reached 42.8 mm in the middle of October (15yr average is 6.4mm). There was a 7.39% increase of cropping intensity, the maximum VCI reached 0.92 and the CPI was 1.01 in this region. 

  (d) Western Coastal region: The accumuated rainfall increased by 23%,  but there was a rainfall reduction by 73% in the middle of September. In the middle of October, the rainfall reached 137 mm (15yr average is 82.7 mm). Temperatures were 0.2°C above the average, resulting in an increase of potential biomass by 7%. Cropping intensity increased by 1.28%. Maximum VCI was 0.96. CPI was 1.02 in this region.  

  (e) Eastern Coastal region;  The rainfall was increased by 19%,  but there was a rainfall reduction by 73% in the middle of September and the precipitation reached 99 mm in the middle of October (15yr average is 61.7 mm). Temperature was 0.4°C above the average. The potential biomass increased by 7%. Cropping intensity increased by 9%. Maximum VCI reached 0.92. The CPI was 1.01 for the Eastern Coastal region. 

  (f) Assam and Northeast regions: The temperature was 0.7°C above the average and the RADPAR exceeded the average by 8%. However, the accumulated rainfall decreased by 30%. The sharpest reductions, by 48% and 72% were observed for the middle of July and September, respectively. They  caused a potential biomass reduction by -3%. The cropping intensity exceeded the 5-year average by 8%. The CPI was at 1.0, indicating normal conditions for this region. 

  (g) Western Himalayan region: The temperature was 1.6°C above the average, the accumulated rainfall was close to normal condition, although a 60% reduction of rainfall was observed in the middle of July. Potential biomass increased slightly by 3%. The cropping intensity exceeded the 5-year average by 9.2%. The overall CPI was 0.97 in the Western Himalayan region. 

  (h) North-western dry region: The accumulated rainfall exceeded the average by 165%, which was mainly caused by a high rainfall event in the middle of July. High rainfall, and thus frequent cloud cover, caused a drop in average temperature by 0.3ºC below the 15YA. The potential biomass increased considerably (ΔBiomass +33%). The cropped arable land fraction increased by 28% and maximum VCI was 0.94. The CPI  was 1.16 in this region. It was the highest among all eight AEZs. 

(a) Phenology of major crops
(b) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI	(c) Maximum VCI
(d) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA	(e) NDVI departure profiles
(f) Rainfall profiles	(g) Temperature profiles
(h) National CPI time series graph
Crop condition development graph based on NDVI(left:Agriculture areas in Rajastan and Gujarat,right:North-western dry region)
Crop condition development graph based on NDVI(left:Assam and north-eastern regions,right:Western Himalayan region)
Crop condition development graph based on NDVI(left:Eastern coastal region,right:Western coastal region)
Crop condition development graph based on NDVI(left:Deccan Plateau,right:Gangatic plain)

Table 3.1 India's agro-climatic indicators by sub-national regions, current season's values and departure from 15YA, July‐October 2024

Table 3.2 India's  agronomic indicators by sub-national regions, current season's values and departures from 5YA, July‐October 2024