Favorable crop condition was observed in Belarus during the July-October 2018 monitoring period. The period covers the final growth stages of spring wheat and the harvest of Spring as well as winter Wheat.

Rainfall increased 16% over average. Increases were also recorded in temperature (TEMP +0.8ºC above average) and radiation (+5%). Agronomic indicators show a decrease in biomass (BIOMASS -16%), but the cropped arable land fraction (CALF) remained unchanged; cropping intensity decreased 4%.

VCIx exceeded 0.8 in a significant section of the country. The NDVI development graph shows that crop condition was below the average from early July to early August; it recovered at the end of August and then stabilised about the average of the last five years. The Spatial NDVI patterns and NDVI profiles indicates that crop condition was throughout the reporting period in about 16.9% of cropped areas.

Regional Analysis

Regional analyses are provided for three agroecological zones (AEZ) defined by their cropping systems, climatic zones and topographic conditions. They are referred to as Northern Belarus (159) with the Regions of Vitebsk, northern area of Grodno, Minsk and Mogilev; Central Belarus (158) with the southern part of Grodno, Minsk and Mogilev, the north of Brest and Gomel and Southern Belarus (160) with the southern halves of Brest and Gomel regions.  

TheAgroclimatic indicators show increases of rainfall in all the agro-ecological zones, especially in Central Belarus (158) where the rainfall increased by 25% compared to years average. The temperature increased in 0.8ºC in both Northern Belarus (159) and Southern Belarus (160), while Central Belarus (158) recorded an increase of 0.9ºC. The radiation exceeded  average by about 5% for all the agro-ecological zones. 

Weather conditions did not significantly affect the agronomic indicators, as BIOMSS decreased in all the agro-ecological zones and CALF remained unchanged.

During the monitoring period, below average crop prevailed from early July to early August and, from this point, remained above the average in all AEZs. In addition to the crop condition development graph based on NDVI, the maximum VCI also indicates better crop conditions over the agroecological zones. VCIx values were below 0.8 in part of Central Belarus (158), but they did not have a significant impact on the crop conditions.

Crop condition was favorable over all the agro-ecological zones.

Figure 3.12. Belarus’s crop condition, April‐July 2018

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

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

(f) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Northern Belarus)

(g) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Central Belarus)

(h) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI (Southern Belarus)  

Table 3.16. Belarus’s agroclimatic indicators by sub‐national regions, current season's values and departure from 15YA July‐October 2018.

Table 3.17. Belarus’s agronomic indicators by sub‐national regions, current season's values and departure from 5YA, July‐October 2018.

Table 3.18. CropWatch‐estimated rice and Maize production for Belarus in 2018 (thousand tons)