The monitoring period covers planting of winter wheat and rapeseed in Southwest China. Overall,crop conditions shows an above average level, compared to the average of the recent five years. Rain has increased by 81%, accompanied by a temperature riseof 0.8°C and a 3% decrease of RADPAR, resulting in an estimated 59% increase ofthe potential biomass accumulation. Potential biomass accumulation mapalso showed above average in most of the region. The cropped arable land fraction stayed the same as the recent five-year average.

According to the spatialNDVI patterns and profiles, winter wheat in the eastern part of Sichuan provinceexperienced below average condition in November 2014, which is confirmed by theNDVI based crop condition development graph, probably due to decreasedprecipitation (a 19% decrease of precipitation from October to January, which mayaffect the outcome of the season). A small fraction (7.2% of the region) ofland in this region showed below average conditions in December, including southernShaanxi, southwestern Chongqing, and southeastern Sichuan. Altogether, most ofsouthwestern China displays above average conditions, including Chongqing,Guizhou, northern Yunnan, western Hunan, western Hubei, southern Gansu, and northwesternGuangxi. The overall maximum VCI of 0.91 confirms this positive outlook.

Figure4.10. Crop condition Southwest China region, October 2014-January 2015