During the monitoring period, thewinter wheat harvest was completed in the north of the Lower Yangtze region(Henan, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces). In the south and center (including Fujian,Jiangxi, Hunan, and Hubei provinces), early rice was harvested while semi-lateand late rice is still growing. Between April and July crop condition variedfrom below to close to the average of the past five years. The agroclimaticindicators show that rainfall was significantly above average (+41%), butradiation and temperature were below (-8% and -0.6°C, respectively). Due to heavy precipitation, Guangdong,Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Zhejiang provinces, which together covermost of the Lower Yangtze region, suffered from serious floods between May andJune. However, this did not lead to significant crop loss. The biomassproduction potential (BIOMSS) was above the past five-year average (+13%), andthe cropped arable land fraction was average. In addition, the maximum VCIreached 0.90. Based on the above analysis, the yield of crops in the region isexpected to be close to the recent five-year average.

Figure4.12. Crop condition Lower Yangtze region, April-July 2015

(b)Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA                                         (c)NDVI profiles

(d)Maximum VCI                                                                                   (e)Biomass