The harvest of summer crops was completed at the end of 2014; current winter crops were planted in November and December and are due to be harvested in May and June. Although almost all crops are irrigated, occasional rainfall does contribute to creating favorable growing conditions. The rainfall indicator for the reporting period was significantly below average (-41%), while radiation and temperature were about average. Cropped arable land fraction (CALF) also dropped (-6% compared to average), although this is unlikely to be due to reduced precipitation.Overall, 17.3% of the agricultural areas, located in the western half of the Delta (east Al Buhayrah), show a very significant NDVI drop at the beginning of November, which together with the decrease in CALF indicate poor or late planted crops, both situations leading to below average conditions in the areas concerned. The national NDVI profile started slowing down at the end of December. Although the winter crops are still three to four months from being harvested,current conditions point at just fair conditions.

Figure3.11. Egypt crop condition, October2014-January 2015

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

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