During the period from October 2014 to January 2015,the planting of winter wheat has been completed, while at the end of January planting of barley was still underway. Rainfall and temperature were above and radiation below average. The CropWatch agroclimatic indices for the current season indicate unfavorable conditions for winter crop growth, which areconfirmed by the decrease of the BIOMSS index by 7%. The national maximum VCI (0.76)was just above average conditions, while the fraction of cropped arable land increased by 5% compared to the five-year average. This information indicates that the initial conditionsfor winter crops in the country were favorable. Conditions were close toor above the five-year average in the Razavi Khorasan and North Khorasan province of the northeast region, in the western regions from Ardabil toZanjan, and extending south and southwest as far as Khuzestan province. The crop conditions in the central-north region, particularly Mazandaran andGolestan province, were below the five-year average during the period of October to December. Most regions experienced close average crop condition from October to November and above average crop condition through December and January.Iran’s latest 2014-15 winter crop generally underwent favorable conditions.

Figure3.17. Iran crop condition, October2014-January 2015