Loess region

In the Loess region, winter wheat was harvested from late May to late June, while summer maize has been planted gradually from late April to late June. Compared to average, rainfall (RAIN) was 19% above average, radiation (RADPAR) dropped by 1%, while temperature (TEMP) was close to normal. The potential biomass (BIOMASS) was 8% above the five-year average as a result of ample rainfall and fair radiation. Up to mid-July, crop condition was mostly below the five-year average and last year’s level, except during late June; the VCIx for the area is 0.67. The spatial NDVI clusters and profiles indicate that only 19.8% of areas have better crop condition than the average over the reporting period. Some important agricultural areas started suffering from poor crop condition during mid-June to late July owing to the local drought. In detail, crop condition was unfavorable in central and eastern Gansu, southern Ningxia, and several areas in central Shanxi, coinciding with a low VCIx in those regions. The Cropped Arable Land Fraction decreased 13%, resulting in a pessimistic crop production outlook for the region, which was also confirmed by figure 4.3

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Figure 4.9a. China Loess region crop condition development graph based on NDVI, comparing the April-July 2017 period to the previous season and the five-year average (5YA) and maximum

Figure 4.9b. China Loess region spatial NDVI patterns for April to July 2017 (compared to the (5YA) (left) and (c) NDVI profiles associated with these spatial patterns (right)

Figure 4.9d. China Loess region maximum VCI, April-July 2017

Figure 4.9e. China Loess region biomass, April-July 2017