REGIONS

Madagascar has 6 provinces including: the Mahajanga, Toamasina, Toliary, Antananarivo, Antsiranana and Fianarantsoa. Among them, only the Mahajanga, Toamasina, Toliary and Antananarivo provinces are related to main produciton areas for rice and maize. 

Compare to the other five provinces, the rainfall departure of Mahajanga was most serious and lower than the 15YA by 43%. Due to the significant precipitation deficit, the biomass decreased by 9%. The agroclimatic conditions were unfavorable.

Toamasina is an important region for planting rice. Temperature and radiation were above average by 0.4°C and 5%. Potential biomass was below average by 12% mainly due to the lower rainfall (ΔRAIN -28%). VCIx value were 0.91, indicating of normal or slightly unfavorable vegetation conditions.

Toliary is a major rice production province. The temperature was below on the average. Potential biomass was below the average by 2% due to the lower rainfall (ΔRAIN -12%). The VCIx was 0.74, indicating of unfavorable vegetaion growth for this region. 

For the province Antananarivo, which has a significant agricultural production, the RAIN was 70 mm, 42% lower than the 15YA, while the TEMP was 16.3°C, 0.2°C above the 15YA. RADPAR was 4% higher than the 15YA. BIOMSS was 12% lower than the 15YA. CALF was 16% lower than the 5YA. The VCIx was 0.76.  The sigificant rainfall deficit was unfavorable for the vegetaion growth for this region.