In general, crop condition was above average in this monitoring period (October 2014 to January 2015). This is the harvesting season of Mexico’s 2014 main maize and the planting season of secondary maize and winter wheat. During the monitoring period, rainfall showed a positive departure (+9%) compared to average; temperature was slightly above average (+0.4°C), and photosynthetically activeradiation decreased by 5%. The NDVI development profile indicates the average performance during the 2014 harvestingseason and the favorable crop condition in January 2015. Maximum VCI in thenorth and northeastern regions of the country was much above the five-year average, which indicates the good performance of crops inthose regions, as supported by the cluster of NDVI profiles (more than 40% of arableland shows good crop condition) and accumulation of biomass (+20%). On thecontrary, crop condition is only average in some part of central Mexico,according to the average value of maximum VCI. The cropped arable land fractionshowed a positive departure of 5%.

Figure3.20. Mexico 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