The reporting period covers the planting and establishment of winter wheat in southwest China. However, this region is only a minor producer of wheat in China.

During this monitoring period, agroclimatic indicators showed that the RAIN in this region was 202 mm, 26% below the 15-year average, and the TEMP was 8.4℃, 0.7℃ above the 15-year average. The decrease in rainy weather also led to a small increase in RADPAR (+10%). Overall low precipitation resulted in a 15% lowerBIOMSS than the 15YA. The VCIx in the area was 0.89 and the arable land was almost fully utilized ,and CALF is the same as in previous years.

The potential biomass map shows a significantly drop in production in the southern part of this region. However, in this region, most of the winter wheat is grown in Sichuan, where conditions were more favorable. VCIx values in some areas are greater than 1.0, indicating that overwintering crop growth exceeds the best conditions of the last 5 years. Overall across the region,, the crop conditions were slightly below average, due to a rainfall deficit. 

Figure 4.12 Crop condition China Southwest region, October 2022-January 2023

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

(b) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI     (c) NDVI profiles

(d) Maximum VCI

(e) Potential biomass departure from 15YA

(f) Time series rainfall profile

(g) Time series temperature profile