The reporting period corresponds to the growing and harvesting season of winter rice in Myanmar. Basedon the CropWatch indicators, the overall crop condition in the country is assessed as poor. Although rainfall (RAIN) increased 8% over average and temperatures(TEMP) were 1.1°C higher than average, the crop condition was significantly below average in some areas. The overall biomass accumulation potential(BIOMSS) is estimated to be 24% above the five-year average, while PAR was some what low (RADPAR, -1%). Crop condition development was below the values for 2014 and the average of the previous five years. Based on maximum VCI values below 0.5and unfavorable NDVI profile patterns, CropWatch assesses crop condition to bepoor in the central divisions of Magway and Mandalay. Remaining regions display maximum VCI values between 0.5 and 0.8. Spatial NDVI profiles followed similar patterns for the entire country up to February, with very positive values from early January to early February. Conditions remained close to average in mostof the country, but gradually deteriorated in the above-mentioned divisions.

Figure 3.21. Myanmar crop condition, January-April 2015

(a)Crop condition development graph based on NDVI   (b)Maximum VCI

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