The reporting period from January to April covers the growing andharvesting season of winter rice; all maize was harvested by mid-April. Accordingto the CropWatch indicators, crop condition was average during the monitoringperiod. Rainfall (RAIN) was 5% above average, temperature was close to average(TEMP, -0.2°C), and radiation (RADPAR, -3%) was only slightly below average. Acrossthe country, the fraction of cropped arable land (CALF) increased by 13percentage points over the five-year average for the January-April period, andthe biomass accumulation potential (BIOMSS) was 5% above average. As a result,national crop condition development profiles were also mostly above average andeven exceeded the five-year maximum in February and mid-April. Spatial NDVIprofiles are also mostly positive (above average) throughout the country andacross the reporting period, especially in southern Myanmar, including Kayah,Bago, Yangon, Ayeyarwaddy, and some scattered locations in the center. It isworth mentioning that VCIx performed well all over the country, especially inMagwe, Mandaly, Shan and northern Bago, which had not only high VCIx values (>1),suggesting a better condition than ever before, but also high NDVI values. Overall,crop condition for Myanmar is assessed as above average.

Figure3.21. Myanmar crop condition, January-April 2017

 (a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

                                          (b) Maximum CVI

(c) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA              (d) NDVI Profile