January to April covers the growing period of irrigated maize, and the planting time of rainy season rice. Crop condition is globally average. The fraction of cropped arable land was above the average of the previous five years (+15%). Compared to average,the CropWatch agro-climatic indicators show a sharp drop in radiation(RADPAR, -7%) and in air temperature (-1.4℃). Rainfall increased slightly (RAIN, +4%), causing a 6% increase in the biomass production potential (BIOMSS) and  rather high VCIx country-wide (VCIx 0.92).

Most regions in the country experienced favourable  VCIx values above 0.8, except a small region in the west of Tongle Sap. NDVI clusters shows 80% of the crop area is slightly over average, only 20% of the area at the average condition. Altogether, the condition of crops in the country is better than average.

Based mostly on climate differences, two agro-ecological regions can be distinguished. Weather in the Tonle Sap lake area (especially rainfall and temperature) is mainly influenced by the lake itself. The second area, referred to as the "main crop area" covers areas outside the Tonle Sap basin along the border with Thailand and Laos in the north and Vietnam in the east.

For the current reporting period, the two major crop areas share similar crop condition; both are above average according to the NDVI profile. The lake plain suffered a reduction of rainfall below average (-6%) compared with abundant water supply in the Main Crop Area(+16%). The marginal drought caused a 1% reduction in BIOMSS near Tongle Sap. However, maximum VCI is rather favourable in this region(0.89). Although both regions suffered from cloudy weather with cool temperature and reduced solar radiation, CALF increased markedly (+13% around Tonle Sap and +20% elsewhere. Overall, crop condition in Cambodia is at least fair.

Figure 3.19. Cambodia crop condition, January 2018 - April 2018

(b)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

(c)Maximum VCI

Besides,

(d)Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA    (e)NDVI profiles

(f)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Lake area of Tongle Sap (left) and Main cropping area (right))

Table 3.40. CropWatch-estimated rice production for Cambodia in 2018 (thousands tons)