Southwest China

The reporting period coincides with the harvest of maize and single cropped rice, as well as the planting of winter wheat. Based on NDVI profiles for the region, crop condition in Southwest China was below average. This is possibly due to the excess of precipitation (RAIN +16%) and insufficient radiation (RADPAR -10%), compared with average. The NDVI in eastern Sichuan and part of southern Shaanxi was significantly below the five-year average level from August to October, with the VCIx in the range of 0.5-0.8. CropWatch found above average precipitation in Sichuan (RAIN +14%) and Shaanxi (+25%), and below average RADPAR in Sichuan (-7%) and Shaanxi (-12%), which has had a negative impact on crop condition.  Although the fraction of cropped arable land (CALF) remained stable during the monitoring period, the cropping intensity in Southwestern China decreased by 6%, which is expected to negatively influence production. 

Figure 4.17a. Southwest China crop condition development graph based on NDVI, comparing the current season up to October 2017 to the previous season, to the five-year average (5YA), and to the five-year maximum

Figure 4.17b. Southwest China spatial NDVI patterns for July to October 2017 (compared to the (5YA) (left) and NDVI profiles associated with these spatial patterns (right)

Figure 4.17c. Southwest China maximum VCI, July-October 2017

Figure 4.17d. Southwest China BIOMSS, July-October 2017