The monitoring period covers the harvesting stage of last year’s main rice, as well as the sowing and growing stage of secondary rice and maize. Nationwide, precipitation (RAIN) presents a positive departure of 50% over average, accompanied by decreased temperature (TEMP, -0.5°C) and below average radiation (RADPAR, -6%). The biomass accumulation potential (BIOMSS) shows an increase of 20%. The fraction of cropped arable land (CALF) for the Philippines is comparable to the five-year average, while the VCIx during the monitoring period is 0.9.

As shown in the NDVI condition development graph, the NDVI curve was below both the five-year average and last year’s values from December. In January, storms brought some heavy and short duration rain (see section 5.2 on disasters), causing flash floods in northern Mindanao and the Visayas; secondary rice suffered badly in some areas, which is confirmed in the spatial patterns of NDVI profiles. Crop condition in Calabarzon and Western Visayas (accounting for about 17% of the country’s area), dropped below average from January. The adverse weather was subscribed to limited areas and lasted only a short time. As a result, the nationwide output of crops can be expected to be fair.